Epilogue: witches in Brazil
1978. «Las Ayabas de Xangô», Carybé, Hector Bernabó, Bahía (Brasil). Xilografía en color, 68cm x 48cm © Museo de Arte de Bahía (IPAC)

The power of rats and rodents in popular beliefs
First century CE. Tomb of a girl named Junia Procula, who died before her ninth birthday. Euphrosyne, her father, erected the monument and used the back of the piece to tell the story of the girl’s mother, Acte, whose name was erased in the inscription © Uffizi Galleries

The animals of Hecate
13th century. Weasel in a medieval edition of On the Nature of Animals. Some beliefs from Rome about this animal passed into later tradition. It was believed that these animals were impure and that they conceived through the ear © ‘Bibliotheque Municipal de Douai’ (manuscript 711) © Creative Commons BY‐NC‐SA 4.0

The power of snakes
Circa 530 BCE. Medea between two serpents. Athenian black-figured lecithus © ‘British Museum’, London

Amulets in Rome: a common protection against the evil eye
First century CE. Younger members of the imperial family on the Ara Pacis Augustae. On the left, the youngest boy, holding a woman’s hand, wears a bulla. On the right, the tallest girl wears a lunula. Photography by R. Rumora (2012) © R. Rumora

The dangers of cooking in Rome
Uncertain dating. Types of Roman cauldrons, found in the Boscoreale Museum, near Pompeii. Source: Wikipedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Maleficent ointments
Roman Early Imperial. Glass perfume bottle cristal © ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’, NY

A formula for cursing
Circa 2 ACE. Roman curse tablet in 2.7 cm lead discovered in 1985 in Cologne, Germany (ID: Thesaurus Defixionum 285). Author unknown

The curse tablet from Pela, Macedonia, 4th century BCE
Date unknown. Image of the unrolled lead sheet (20 x 5cm) discovered in 1986 by archaeologist Maria Akamati in the agora of the city of Pela. In addition to the interest of its contents, it is one of the few texts written in Macedonian Greek. It is currently housed in the archaeological museum of Pela © Creative Commons

Erotic magic and judicial accusations
2nd century BCE. Papyrus with a marriage contract from Oxyrhynchus (PSI I 64). Among the clauses of the agreement the wife agrees not to administer magic drinks to her husband. Image PSIonline (2024) © ‘Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana’, Florence

Erotic magic and prostitution
Circa 490 BCE. Hetera at the symposium, Attic cup with red figures attributed to the painter Makron. Phtography by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Erotic magic and tragic heroines
150-125 BCE. «The council of the witches», mosaic from Pompeii, Villa of Cicero, signed by Dioscorides of Samos. Photography by Raquel Martín Hernández (2023) © Raquel Martín Hernández

Dido and Anna
1st century CE. Wall painting from Pompei, house of Meleager. Photography by Marie Lan Nguyen) © ‘Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli’ (inv. 8898)

Anna Perenna: White magic in Rome
1st to 4th century CE. Findings from the Anna Perenna fountain (Piazza Euclide, Roma). ‘Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme di Diocleziano’. Foto de Di Flazaza © Di Flazaza

Helena and magic
450-440 BCE. Attic crater with red figures by the Painter of Menelaus, found in Egnatia (Apulia, Italy) and preserved in the ‘Musée du Louvre’ (Paris). In the detail, Menelaus tries to strike Helen, but mesmerized by her beauty, he drops his sword. Aphrodite and Eros watch the scene. Photography by Stéphane Maréchalle (2017) © ‘RMN-Grand Palais’ (‘Musée du Louvre’)

Medea, sorceress scorned
Circa 630 BCE. Medea the sorceress and her magic cauldron, Etruscan olpe in black pottery. Photography by Laura D’Erme (2021), Museum of Etruscan Art © Laura D’Erme

Circe and the ‘femme fatale’
1891. «Circe offering the cup to Ulysses», John William Waterhouse © Oldham Art Gallery, Manchester

Circe, sorceress in love
Circa 440 BCE. Odysseus pursuing Circe, chalice krater attributed to the painter of Persephone, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photografyby Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Marie-Lan Nguyen

Diana and the night flight of the witches
Circa 1451. First known representation of a witch riding a broom; she is accompanied by another woman flying on a white stick. These are marginal drawings from Martin Le Franc's poem 'Le champion des dames' © 'Bibliothèque Nationale de France', Paris, MS. Fr. 12476, fol. 105v.

Proserpina/Persephone: Goddess of the Dead
Roman imperial period, relief of Proserpina and Pluto. ‘Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia’, Calabria (BY-SA 2.0 FR - NC). Photography by Fabien Bièvre-Perrin © Fabien Bièvre-Perrin

Hecate and modern esotericism
2021. Devotional print of Hecate. Illustration by Sara Quintero © Sara Quintero

Hecate, the great goddess of darkness
1st-2nd Century ACE. Marble relief of Hecate in a temple from the time of Hadrian © Kinský Palace, Prague (NM-H10 4742).

On the origin: Female ritual practitioners
20th century BCE. Diorite statuette of a seated woman from Gipar-ku (Irak). Sumerian inscriptions on the seat indicate that it depicts a priestess dedicating the offering to the goddess Ningal. Largely reconstructed. Inv. B16229 © Penn Museum 2022, British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1926

Epilogue: witches in Brazil
1978. «Las Ayabas de Xangô», Carybé, Hector Bernabó, Bahía (Brasil). Xilografía en color, 68cm x 48cm © Museo de Arte de Bahía (IPAC)

The power of rats and rodents in popular beliefs
First century CE. Tomb of a girl named Junia Procula, who died before her ninth birthday. Euphrosyne, her father, erected the monument and used the back of the piece to tell the story of the girl’s mother, Acte, whose name was erased in the inscription © Uffizi Galleries

The animals of Hecate
13th century. Weasel in a medieval edition of On the Nature of Animals. Some beliefs from Rome about this animal passed into later tradition. It was believed that these animals were impure and that they conceived through the ear © ‘Bibliotheque Municipal de Douai’ (manuscript 711) © Creative Commons BY‐NC‐SA 4.0

The power of snakes
Circa 530 BCE. Medea between two serpents. Athenian black-figured lecithus © ‘British Museum’, London

Amulets in Rome: a common protection against the evil eye
First century CE. Younger members of the imperial family on the Ara Pacis Augustae. On the left, the youngest boy, holding a woman’s hand, wears a bulla. On the right, the tallest girl wears a lunula. Photography by R. Rumora (2012) © R. Rumora

The dangers of cooking in Rome
Uncertain dating. Types of Roman cauldrons, found in the Boscoreale Museum, near Pompeii. Source: Wikipedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Maleficent ointments
Roman Early Imperial. Glass perfume bottle cristal © ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’, NY

A formula for cursing
Circa 2 ACE. Roman curse tablet in 2.7 cm lead discovered in 1985 in Cologne, Germany (ID: Thesaurus Defixionum 285). Author unknown

The curse tablet from Pela, Macedonia, 4th century BCE
Date unknown. Image of the unrolled lead sheet (20 x 5cm) discovered in 1986 by archaeologist Maria Akamati in the agora of the city of Pela. In addition to the interest of its contents, it is one of the few texts written in Macedonian Greek. It is currently housed in the archaeological museum of Pela © Creative Commons

Erotic magic and judicial accusations
2nd century BCE. Papyrus with a marriage contract from Oxyrhynchus (PSI I 64). Among the clauses of the agreement the wife agrees not to administer magic drinks to her husband. Image PSIonline (2024) © ‘Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana’, Florence

Erotic magic and prostitution
Circa 490 BCE. Hetera at the symposium, Attic cup with red figures attributed to the painter Makron. Phtography by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Erotic magic and tragic heroines
150-125 BCE. «The council of the witches», mosaic from Pompeii, Villa of Cicero, signed by Dioscorides of Samos. Photography by Raquel Martín Hernández (2023) © Raquel Martín Hernández

Dido and Anna
1st century CE. Wall painting from Pompei, house of Meleager. Photography by Marie Lan Nguyen) © ‘Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli’ (inv. 8898)

Anna Perenna: White magic in Rome
1st to 4th century CE. Findings from the Anna Perenna fountain (Piazza Euclide, Roma). ‘Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme di Diocleziano’. Foto de Di Flazaza © Di Flazaza

Helena and magic
450-440 BCE. Attic crater with red figures by the Painter of Menelaus, found in Egnatia (Apulia, Italy) and preserved in the ‘Musée du Louvre’ (Paris). In the detail, Menelaus tries to strike Helen, but mesmerized by her beauty, he drops his sword. Aphrodite and Eros watch the scene. Photography by Stéphane Maréchalle (2017) © ‘RMN-Grand Palais’ (‘Musée du Louvre’)

Medea, sorceress scorned
Circa 630 BCE. Medea the sorceress and her magic cauldron, Etruscan olpe in black pottery. Photography by Laura D’Erme (2021), Museum of Etruscan Art © Laura D’Erme

Circe and the ‘femme fatale’
1891. «Circe offering the cup to Ulysses», John William Waterhouse © Oldham Art Gallery, Manchester

Circe, sorceress in love
Circa 440 BCE. Odysseus pursuing Circe, chalice krater attributed to the painter of Persephone, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photografyby Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Marie-Lan Nguyen

Diana and the night flight of the witches
Circa 1451. First known representation of a witch riding a broom; she is accompanied by another woman flying on a white stick. These are marginal drawings from Martin Le Franc's poem 'Le champion des dames' © 'Bibliothèque Nationale de France', Paris, MS. Fr. 12476, fol. 105v.

Proserpina/Persephone: Goddess of the Dead
Roman imperial period, relief of Proserpina and Pluto. ‘Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia’, Calabria (BY-SA 2.0 FR - NC). Photography by Fabien Bièvre-Perrin © Fabien Bièvre-Perrin

Hecate and modern esotericism
2021. Devotional print of Hecate. Illustration by Sara Quintero © Sara Quintero

Hecate, the great goddess of darkness
1st-2nd Century ACE. Marble relief of Hecate in a temple from the time of Hadrian © Kinský Palace, Prague (NM-H10 4742).

On the origin: Female ritual practitioners
20th century BCE. Diorite statuette of a seated woman from Gipar-ku (Irak). Sumerian inscriptions on the seat indicate that it depicts a priestess dedicating the offering to the goddess Ningal. Largely reconstructed. Inv. B16229 © Penn Museum 2022, British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1926

Epilogue: witches in Brazil
1978. «Las Ayabas de Xangô», Carybé, Hector Bernabó, Bahía (Brasil). Xilografía en color, 68cm x 48cm © Museo de Arte de Bahía (IPAC)

The power of rats and rodents in popular beliefs
First century CE. Tomb of a girl named Junia Procula, who died before her ninth birthday. Euphrosyne, her father, erected the monument and used the back of the piece to tell the story of the girl’s mother, Acte, whose name was erased in the inscription © Uffizi Galleries

The animals of Hecate
13th century. Weasel in a medieval edition of On the Nature of Animals. Some beliefs from Rome about this animal passed into later tradition. It was believed that these animals were impure and that they conceived through the ear © ‘Bibliotheque Municipal de Douai’ (manuscript 711) © Creative Commons BY‐NC‐SA 4.0

The power of snakes
Circa 530 BCE. Medea between two serpents. Athenian black-figured lecithus © ‘British Museum’, London

Amulets in Rome: a common protection against the evil eye
First century CE. Younger members of the imperial family on the Ara Pacis Augustae. On the left, the youngest boy, holding a woman’s hand, wears a bulla. On the right, the tallest girl wears a lunula. Photography by R. Rumora (2012) © R. Rumora

The dangers of cooking in Rome
Uncertain dating. Types of Roman cauldrons, found in the Boscoreale Museum, near Pompeii. Source: Wikipedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Maleficent ointments
Roman Early Imperial. Glass perfume bottle cristal © ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’, NY

A formula for cursing
Circa 2 ACE. Roman curse tablet in 2.7 cm lead discovered in 1985 in Cologne, Germany (ID: Thesaurus Defixionum 285). Author unknown

The curse tablet from Pela, Macedonia, 4th century BCE
Date unknown. Image of the unrolled lead sheet (20 x 5cm) discovered in 1986 by archaeologist Maria Akamati in the agora of the city of Pela. In addition to the interest of its contents, it is one of the few texts written in Macedonian Greek. It is currently housed in the archaeological museum of Pela © Creative Commons

Erotic magic and judicial accusations
2nd century BCE. Papyrus with a marriage contract from Oxyrhynchus (PSI I 64). Among the clauses of the agreement the wife agrees not to administer magic drinks to her husband. Image PSIonline (2024) © ‘Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana’, Florence

Erotic magic and prostitution
Circa 490 BCE. Hetera at the symposium, Attic cup with red figures attributed to the painter Makron. Phtography by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Erotic magic and tragic heroines
150-125 BCE. «The council of the witches», mosaic from Pompeii, Villa of Cicero, signed by Dioscorides of Samos. Photography by Raquel Martín Hernández (2023) © Raquel Martín Hernández

Dido and Anna
1st century CE. Wall painting from Pompei, house of Meleager. Photography by Marie Lan Nguyen) © ‘Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli’ (inv. 8898)

Anna Perenna: White magic in Rome
1st to 4th century CE. Findings from the Anna Perenna fountain (Piazza Euclide, Roma). ‘Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme di Diocleziano’. Foto de Di Flazaza © Di Flazaza

Helena and magic
450-440 BCE. Attic crater with red figures by the Painter of Menelaus, found in Egnatia (Apulia, Italy) and preserved in the ‘Musée du Louvre’ (Paris). In the detail, Menelaus tries to strike Helen, but mesmerized by her beauty, he drops his sword. Aphrodite and Eros watch the scene. Photography by Stéphane Maréchalle (2017) © ‘RMN-Grand Palais’ (‘Musée du Louvre’)

Medea, sorceress scorned
Circa 630 BCE. Medea the sorceress and her magic cauldron, Etruscan olpe in black pottery. Photography by Laura D’Erme (2021), Museum of Etruscan Art © Laura D’Erme

Circe and the ‘femme fatale’
1891. «Circe offering the cup to Ulysses», John William Waterhouse © Oldham Art Gallery, Manchester

Circe, sorceress in love
Circa 440 BCE. Odysseus pursuing Circe, chalice krater attributed to the painter of Persephone, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photografyby Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Marie-Lan Nguyen

Diana and the night flight of the witches
Circa 1451. First known representation of a witch riding a broom; she is accompanied by another woman flying on a white stick. These are marginal drawings from Martin Le Franc's poem 'Le champion des dames' © 'Bibliothèque Nationale de France', Paris, MS. Fr. 12476, fol. 105v.

Proserpina/Persephone: Goddess of the Dead
Roman imperial period, relief of Proserpina and Pluto. ‘Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia’, Calabria (BY-SA 2.0 FR - NC). Photography by Fabien Bièvre-Perrin © Fabien Bièvre-Perrin

Hecate and modern esotericism
2021. Devotional print of Hecate. Illustration by Sara Quintero © Sara Quintero

Hecate, the great goddess of darkness
1st-2nd Century ACE. Marble relief of Hecate in a temple from the time of Hadrian © Kinský Palace, Prague (NM-H10 4742).

On the origin: Female ritual practitioners
20th century BCE. Diorite statuette of a seated woman from Gipar-ku (Irak). Sumerian inscriptions on the seat indicate that it depicts a priestess dedicating the offering to the goddess Ningal. Largely reconstructed. Inv. B16229 © Penn Museum 2022, British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1926

Epilogue: witches in Brazil
1978. «Las Ayabas de Xangô», Carybé, Hector Bernabó, Bahía (Brasil). Xilografía en color, 68cm x 48cm © Museo de Arte de Bahía (IPAC)

The power of rats and rodents in popular beliefs
First century CE. Tomb of a girl named Junia Procula, who died before her ninth birthday. Euphrosyne, her father, erected the monument and used the back of the piece to tell the story of the girl’s mother, Acte, whose name was erased in the inscription © Uffizi Galleries

The animals of Hecate
13th century. Weasel in a medieval edition of On the Nature of Animals. Some beliefs from Rome about this animal passed into later tradition. It was believed that these animals were impure and that they conceived through the ear © ‘Bibliotheque Municipal de Douai’ (manuscript 711) © Creative Commons BY‐NC‐SA 4.0

The power of snakes
Circa 530 BCE. Medea between two serpents. Athenian black-figured lecithus © ‘British Museum’, London

Amulets in Rome: a common protection against the evil eye
First century CE. Younger members of the imperial family on the Ara Pacis Augustae. On the left, the youngest boy, holding a woman’s hand, wears a bulla. On the right, the tallest girl wears a lunula. Photography by R. Rumora (2012) © R. Rumora

The dangers of cooking in Rome
Uncertain dating. Types of Roman cauldrons, found in the Boscoreale Museum, near Pompeii. Source: Wikipedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Maleficent ointments
Roman Early Imperial. Glass perfume bottle cristal © ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’, NY

A formula for cursing
Circa 2 ACE. Roman curse tablet in 2.7 cm lead discovered in 1985 in Cologne, Germany (ID: Thesaurus Defixionum 285). Author unknown

The curse tablet from Pela, Macedonia, 4th century BCE
Date unknown. Image of the unrolled lead sheet (20 x 5cm) discovered in 1986 by archaeologist Maria Akamati in the agora of the city of Pela. In addition to the interest of its contents, it is one of the few texts written in Macedonian Greek. It is currently housed in the archaeological museum of Pela © Creative Commons

Erotic magic and judicial accusations
2nd century BCE. Papyrus with a marriage contract from Oxyrhynchus (PSI I 64). Among the clauses of the agreement the wife agrees not to administer magic drinks to her husband. Image PSIonline (2024) © ‘Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana’, Florence

Erotic magic and prostitution
Circa 490 BCE. Hetera at the symposium, Attic cup with red figures attributed to the painter Makron. Phtography by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Erotic magic and tragic heroines
150-125 BCE. «The council of the witches», mosaic from Pompeii, Villa of Cicero, signed by Dioscorides of Samos. Photography by Raquel Martín Hernández (2023) © Raquel Martín Hernández

Dido and Anna
1st century CE. Wall painting from Pompei, house of Meleager. Photography by Marie Lan Nguyen) © ‘Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli’ (inv. 8898)

Anna Perenna: White magic in Rome
1st to 4th century CE. Findings from the Anna Perenna fountain (Piazza Euclide, Roma). ‘Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme di Diocleziano’. Foto de Di Flazaza © Di Flazaza

Helena and magic
450-440 BCE. Attic crater with red figures by the Painter of Menelaus, found in Egnatia (Apulia, Italy) and preserved in the ‘Musée du Louvre’ (Paris). In the detail, Menelaus tries to strike Helen, but mesmerized by her beauty, he drops his sword. Aphrodite and Eros watch the scene. Photography by Stéphane Maréchalle (2017) © ‘RMN-Grand Palais’ (‘Musée du Louvre’)

Medea, sorceress scorned
Circa 630 BCE. Medea the sorceress and her magic cauldron, Etruscan olpe in black pottery. Photography by Laura D’Erme (2021), Museum of Etruscan Art © Laura D’Erme

Circe and the ‘femme fatale’
1891. «Circe offering the cup to Ulysses», John William Waterhouse © Oldham Art Gallery, Manchester

Circe, sorceress in love
Circa 440 BCE. Odysseus pursuing Circe, chalice krater attributed to the painter of Persephone, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photografyby Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Marie-Lan Nguyen

Diana and the night flight of the witches
Circa 1451. First known representation of a witch riding a broom; she is accompanied by another woman flying on a white stick. These are marginal drawings from Martin Le Franc's poem 'Le champion des dames' © 'Bibliothèque Nationale de France', Paris, MS. Fr. 12476, fol. 105v.

Proserpina/Persephone: Goddess of the Dead
Roman imperial period, relief of Proserpina and Pluto. ‘Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia’, Calabria (BY-SA 2.0 FR - NC). Photography by Fabien Bièvre-Perrin © Fabien Bièvre-Perrin

Hecate and modern esotericism
2021. Devotional print of Hecate. Illustration by Sara Quintero © Sara Quintero

Hecate, the great goddess of darkness
1st-2nd Century ACE. Marble relief of Hecate in a temple from the time of Hadrian © Kinský Palace, Prague (NM-H10 4742).

On the origin: Female ritual practitioners
20th century BCE. Diorite statuette of a seated woman from Gipar-ku (Irak). Sumerian inscriptions on the seat indicate that it depicts a priestess dedicating the offering to the goddess Ningal. Largely reconstructed. Inv. B16229 © Penn Museum 2022, British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1926

Epilogue: witches in Brazil
1978. «Las Ayabas de Xangô», Carybé, Hector Bernabó, Bahía (Brasil). Xilografía en color, 68cm x 48cm © Museo de Arte de Bahía (IPAC)

The power of rats and rodents in popular beliefs
First century CE. Tomb of a girl named Junia Procula, who died before her ninth birthday. Euphrosyne, her father, erected the monument and used the back of the piece to tell the story of the girl’s mother, Acte, whose name was erased in the inscription © Uffizi Galleries

The animals of Hecate
13th century. Weasel in a medieval edition of On the Nature of Animals. Some beliefs from Rome about this animal passed into later tradition. It was believed that these animals were impure and that they conceived through the ear © ‘Bibliotheque Municipal de Douai’ (manuscript 711) © Creative Commons BY‐NC‐SA 4.0

The power of snakes
Circa 530 BCE. Medea between two serpents. Athenian black-figured lecithus © ‘British Museum’, London

Amulets in Rome: a common protection against the evil eye
First century CE. Younger members of the imperial family on the Ara Pacis Augustae. On the left, the youngest boy, holding a woman’s hand, wears a bulla. On the right, the tallest girl wears a lunula. Photography by R. Rumora (2012) © R. Rumora

The dangers of cooking in Rome
Uncertain dating. Types of Roman cauldrons, found in the Boscoreale Museum, near Pompeii. Source: Wikipedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Maleficent ointments
Roman Early Imperial. Glass perfume bottle cristal © ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’, NY

A formula for cursing
Circa 2 ACE. Roman curse tablet in 2.7 cm lead discovered in 1985 in Cologne, Germany (ID: Thesaurus Defixionum 285). Author unknown

The curse tablet from Pela, Macedonia, 4th century BCE
Date unknown. Image of the unrolled lead sheet (20 x 5cm) discovered in 1986 by archaeologist Maria Akamati in the agora of the city of Pela. In addition to the interest of its contents, it is one of the few texts written in Macedonian Greek. It is currently housed in the archaeological museum of Pela © Creative Commons

Erotic magic and judicial accusations
2nd century BCE. Papyrus with a marriage contract from Oxyrhynchus (PSI I 64). Among the clauses of the agreement the wife agrees not to administer magic drinks to her husband. Image PSIonline (2024) © ‘Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana’, Florence

Erotic magic and prostitution
Circa 490 BCE. Hetera at the symposium, Attic cup with red figures attributed to the painter Makron. Phtography by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Erotic magic and tragic heroines
150-125 BCE. «The council of the witches», mosaic from Pompeii, Villa of Cicero, signed by Dioscorides of Samos. Photography by Raquel Martín Hernández (2023) © Raquel Martín Hernández

Dido and Anna
1st century CE. Wall painting from Pompei, house of Meleager. Photography by Marie Lan Nguyen) © ‘Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli’ (inv. 8898)

Anna Perenna: White magic in Rome
1st to 4th century CE. Findings from the Anna Perenna fountain (Piazza Euclide, Roma). ‘Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme di Diocleziano’. Foto de Di Flazaza © Di Flazaza

Helena and magic
450-440 BCE. Attic crater with red figures by the Painter of Menelaus, found in Egnatia (Apulia, Italy) and preserved in the ‘Musée du Louvre’ (Paris). In the detail, Menelaus tries to strike Helen, but mesmerized by her beauty, he drops his sword. Aphrodite and Eros watch the scene. Photography by Stéphane Maréchalle (2017) © ‘RMN-Grand Palais’ (‘Musée du Louvre’)

Medea, sorceress scorned
Circa 630 BCE. Medea the sorceress and her magic cauldron, Etruscan olpe in black pottery. Photography by Laura D’Erme (2021), Museum of Etruscan Art © Laura D’Erme

Circe and the ‘femme fatale’
1891. «Circe offering the cup to Ulysses», John William Waterhouse © Oldham Art Gallery, Manchester

Circe, sorceress in love
Circa 440 BCE. Odysseus pursuing Circe, chalice krater attributed to the painter of Persephone, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photografyby Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Marie-Lan Nguyen

Diana and the night flight of the witches
Circa 1451. First known representation of a witch riding a broom; she is accompanied by another woman flying on a white stick. These are marginal drawings from Martin Le Franc's poem 'Le champion des dames' © 'Bibliothèque Nationale de France', Paris, MS. Fr. 12476, fol. 105v.

Proserpina/Persephone: Goddess of the Dead
Roman imperial period, relief of Proserpina and Pluto. ‘Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia’, Calabria (BY-SA 2.0 FR - NC). Photography by Fabien Bièvre-Perrin © Fabien Bièvre-Perrin

Hecate and modern esotericism
2021. Devotional print of Hecate. Illustration by Sara Quintero © Sara Quintero

Hecate, the great goddess of darkness
1st-2nd Century ACE. Marble relief of Hecate in a temple from the time of Hadrian © Kinský Palace, Prague (NM-H10 4742).

On the origin: Female ritual practitioners
20th century BCE. Diorite statuette of a seated woman from Gipar-ku (Irak). Sumerian inscriptions on the seat indicate that it depicts a priestess dedicating the offering to the goddess Ningal. Largely reconstructed. Inv. B16229 © Penn Museum 2022, British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1926

Epilogue: witches in Brazil
1978. «Las Ayabas de Xangô», Carybé, Hector Bernabó, Bahía (Brasil). Xilografía en color, 68cm x 48cm © Museo de Arte de Bahía (IPAC)

The power of rats and rodents in popular beliefs
First century CE. Tomb of a girl named Junia Procula, who died before her ninth birthday. Euphrosyne, her father, erected the monument and used the back of the piece to tell the story of the girl’s mother, Acte, whose name was erased in the inscription © Uffizi Galleries

The animals of Hecate
13th century. Weasel in a medieval edition of On the Nature of Animals. Some beliefs from Rome about this animal passed into later tradition. It was believed that these animals were impure and that they conceived through the ear © ‘Bibliotheque Municipal de Douai’ (manuscript 711) © Creative Commons BY‐NC‐SA 4.0

The power of snakes
Circa 530 BCE. Medea between two serpents. Athenian black-figured lecithus © ‘British Museum’, London

Amulets in Rome: a common protection against the evil eye
First century CE. Younger members of the imperial family on the Ara Pacis Augustae. On the left, the youngest boy, holding a woman’s hand, wears a bulla. On the right, the tallest girl wears a lunula. Photography by R. Rumora (2012) © R. Rumora

The dangers of cooking in Rome
Uncertain dating. Types of Roman cauldrons, found in the Boscoreale Museum, near Pompeii. Source: Wikipedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Maleficent ointments
Roman Early Imperial. Glass perfume bottle cristal © ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’, NY

A formula for cursing
Circa 2 ACE. Roman curse tablet in 2.7 cm lead discovered in 1985 in Cologne, Germany (ID: Thesaurus Defixionum 285). Author unknown

The curse tablet from Pela, Macedonia, 4th century BCE
Date unknown. Image of the unrolled lead sheet (20 x 5cm) discovered in 1986 by archaeologist Maria Akamati in the agora of the city of Pela. In addition to the interest of its contents, it is one of the few texts written in Macedonian Greek. It is currently housed in the archaeological museum of Pela © Creative Commons

Erotic magic and judicial accusations
2nd century BCE. Papyrus with a marriage contract from Oxyrhynchus (PSI I 64). Among the clauses of the agreement the wife agrees not to administer magic drinks to her husband. Image PSIonline (2024) © ‘Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana’, Florence

Erotic magic and prostitution
Circa 490 BCE. Hetera at the symposium, Attic cup with red figures attributed to the painter Makron. Phtography by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Erotic magic and tragic heroines
150-125 BCE. «The council of the witches», mosaic from Pompeii, Villa of Cicero, signed by Dioscorides of Samos. Photography by Raquel Martín Hernández (2023) © Raquel Martín Hernández

Dido and Anna
1st century CE. Wall painting from Pompei, house of Meleager. Photography by Marie Lan Nguyen) © ‘Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli’ (inv. 8898)

Anna Perenna: White magic in Rome
1st to 4th century CE. Findings from the Anna Perenna fountain (Piazza Euclide, Roma). ‘Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme di Diocleziano’. Foto de Di Flazaza © Di Flazaza

Helena and magic
450-440 BCE. Attic crater with red figures by the Painter of Menelaus, found in Egnatia (Apulia, Italy) and preserved in the ‘Musée du Louvre’ (Paris). In the detail, Menelaus tries to strike Helen, but mesmerized by her beauty, he drops his sword. Aphrodite and Eros watch the scene. Photography by Stéphane Maréchalle (2017) © ‘RMN-Grand Palais’ (‘Musée du Louvre’)

Medea, sorceress scorned
Circa 630 BCE. Medea the sorceress and her magic cauldron, Etruscan olpe in black pottery. Photography by Laura D’Erme (2021), Museum of Etruscan Art © Laura D’Erme

Circe and the ‘femme fatale’
1891. «Circe offering the cup to Ulysses», John William Waterhouse © Oldham Art Gallery, Manchester

Circe, sorceress in love
Circa 440 BCE. Odysseus pursuing Circe, chalice krater attributed to the painter of Persephone, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photografyby Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Marie-Lan Nguyen

Diana and the night flight of the witches
Circa 1451. First known representation of a witch riding a broom; she is accompanied by another woman flying on a white stick. These are marginal drawings from Martin Le Franc's poem 'Le champion des dames' © 'Bibliothèque Nationale de France', Paris, MS. Fr. 12476, fol. 105v.

Proserpina/Persephone: Goddess of the Dead
Roman imperial period, relief of Proserpina and Pluto. ‘Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia’, Calabria (BY-SA 2.0 FR - NC). Photography by Fabien Bièvre-Perrin © Fabien Bièvre-Perrin

Hecate and modern esotericism
2021. Devotional print of Hecate. Illustration by Sara Quintero © Sara Quintero

Hecate, the great goddess of darkness
1st-2nd Century ACE. Marble relief of Hecate in a temple from the time of Hadrian © Kinský Palace, Prague (NM-H10 4742).

On the origin: Female ritual practitioners
20th century BCE. Diorite statuette of a seated woman from Gipar-ku (Irak). Sumerian inscriptions on the seat indicate that it depicts a priestess dedicating the offering to the goddess Ningal. Largely reconstructed. Inv. B16229 © Penn Museum 2022, British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1926

Epilogue: witches in Brazil
1978. «Las Ayabas de Xangô», Carybé, Hector Bernabó, Bahía (Brasil). Xilografía en color, 68cm x 48cm © Museo de Arte de Bahía (IPAC)

The power of rats and rodents in popular beliefs
First century CE. Tomb of a girl named Junia Procula, who died before her ninth birthday. Euphrosyne, her father, erected the monument and used the back of the piece to tell the story of the girl’s mother, Acte, whose name was erased in the inscription © Uffizi Galleries

The animals of Hecate
13th century. Weasel in a medieval edition of On the Nature of Animals. Some beliefs from Rome about this animal passed into later tradition. It was believed that these animals were impure and that they conceived through the ear © ‘Bibliotheque Municipal de Douai’ (manuscript 711) © Creative Commons BY‐NC‐SA 4.0

The power of snakes
Circa 530 BCE. Medea between two serpents. Athenian black-figured lecithus © ‘British Museum’, London

Amulets in Rome: a common protection against the evil eye
First century CE. Younger members of the imperial family on the Ara Pacis Augustae. On the left, the youngest boy, holding a woman’s hand, wears a bulla. On the right, the tallest girl wears a lunula. Photography by R. Rumora (2012) © R. Rumora

The dangers of cooking in Rome
Uncertain dating. Types of Roman cauldrons, found in the Boscoreale Museum, near Pompeii. Source: Wikipedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Maleficent ointments
Roman Early Imperial. Glass perfume bottle cristal © ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’, NY

A formula for cursing
Circa 2 ACE. Roman curse tablet in 2.7 cm lead discovered in 1985 in Cologne, Germany (ID: Thesaurus Defixionum 285). Author unknown

The curse tablet from Pela, Macedonia, 4th century BCE
Date unknown. Image of the unrolled lead sheet (20 x 5cm) discovered in 1986 by archaeologist Maria Akamati in the agora of the city of Pela. In addition to the interest of its contents, it is one of the few texts written in Macedonian Greek. It is currently housed in the archaeological museum of Pela © Creative Commons

Erotic magic and judicial accusations
2nd century BCE. Papyrus with a marriage contract from Oxyrhynchus (PSI I 64). Among the clauses of the agreement the wife agrees not to administer magic drinks to her husband. Image PSIonline (2024) © ‘Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana’, Florence

Erotic magic and prostitution
Circa 490 BCE. Hetera at the symposium, Attic cup with red figures attributed to the painter Makron. Phtography by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Erotic magic and tragic heroines
150-125 BCE. «The council of the witches», mosaic from Pompeii, Villa of Cicero, signed by Dioscorides of Samos. Photography by Raquel Martín Hernández (2023) © Raquel Martín Hernández

Dido and Anna
1st century CE. Wall painting from Pompei, house of Meleager. Photography by Marie Lan Nguyen) © ‘Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli’ (inv. 8898)

Anna Perenna: White magic in Rome
1st to 4th century CE. Findings from the Anna Perenna fountain (Piazza Euclide, Roma). ‘Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme di Diocleziano’. Foto de Di Flazaza © Di Flazaza

Helena and magic
450-440 BCE. Attic crater with red figures by the Painter of Menelaus, found in Egnatia (Apulia, Italy) and preserved in the ‘Musée du Louvre’ (Paris). In the detail, Menelaus tries to strike Helen, but mesmerized by her beauty, he drops his sword. Aphrodite and Eros watch the scene. Photography by Stéphane Maréchalle (2017) © ‘RMN-Grand Palais’ (‘Musée du Louvre’)

Medea, sorceress scorned
Circa 630 BCE. Medea the sorceress and her magic cauldron, Etruscan olpe in black pottery. Photography by Laura D’Erme (2021), Museum of Etruscan Art © Laura D’Erme

Circe and the ‘femme fatale’
1891. «Circe offering the cup to Ulysses», John William Waterhouse © Oldham Art Gallery, Manchester

Circe, sorceress in love
Circa 440 BCE. Odysseus pursuing Circe, chalice krater attributed to the painter of Persephone, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photografyby Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Marie-Lan Nguyen

Diana and the night flight of the witches
Circa 1451. First known representation of a witch riding a broom; she is accompanied by another woman flying on a white stick. These are marginal drawings from Martin Le Franc's poem 'Le champion des dames' © 'Bibliothèque Nationale de France', Paris, MS. Fr. 12476, fol. 105v.

Proserpina/Persephone: Goddess of the Dead
Roman imperial period, relief of Proserpina and Pluto. ‘Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia’, Calabria (BY-SA 2.0 FR - NC). Photography by Fabien Bièvre-Perrin © Fabien Bièvre-Perrin

Hecate and modern esotericism
2021. Devotional print of Hecate. Illustration by Sara Quintero © Sara Quintero

Hecate, the great goddess of darkness
1st-2nd Century ACE. Marble relief of Hecate in a temple from the time of Hadrian © Kinský Palace, Prague (NM-H10 4742).

On the origin: Female ritual practitioners
20th century BCE. Diorite statuette of a seated woman from Gipar-ku (Irak). Sumerian inscriptions on the seat indicate that it depicts a priestess dedicating the offering to the goddess Ningal. Largely reconstructed. Inv. B16229 © Penn Museum 2022, British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1926

Epilogue: witches in Brazil
1978. «Las Ayabas de Xangô», Carybé, Hector Bernabó, Bahía (Brasil). Xilografía en color, 68cm x 48cm © Museo de Arte de Bahía (IPAC)

The power of rats and rodents in popular beliefs
First century CE. Tomb of a girl named Junia Procula, who died before her ninth birthday. Euphrosyne, her father, erected the monument and used the back of the piece to tell the story of the girl’s mother, Acte, whose name was erased in the inscription © Uffizi Galleries

The animals of Hecate
13th century. Weasel in a medieval edition of On the Nature of Animals. Some beliefs from Rome about this animal passed into later tradition. It was believed that these animals were impure and that they conceived through the ear © ‘Bibliotheque Municipal de Douai’ (manuscript 711) © Creative Commons BY‐NC‐SA 4.0

The power of snakes
Circa 530 BCE. Medea between two serpents. Athenian black-figured lecithus © ‘British Museum’, London

Amulets in Rome: a common protection against the evil eye
First century CE. Younger members of the imperial family on the Ara Pacis Augustae. On the left, the youngest boy, holding a woman’s hand, wears a bulla. On the right, the tallest girl wears a lunula. Photography by R. Rumora (2012) © R. Rumora

The dangers of cooking in Rome
Uncertain dating. Types of Roman cauldrons, found in the Boscoreale Museum, near Pompeii. Source: Wikipedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Maleficent ointments
Roman Early Imperial. Glass perfume bottle cristal © ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’, NY

A formula for cursing
Circa 2 ACE. Roman curse tablet in 2.7 cm lead discovered in 1985 in Cologne, Germany (ID: Thesaurus Defixionum 285). Author unknown

The curse tablet from Pela, Macedonia, 4th century BCE
Date unknown. Image of the unrolled lead sheet (20 x 5cm) discovered in 1986 by archaeologist Maria Akamati in the agora of the city of Pela. In addition to the interest of its contents, it is one of the few texts written in Macedonian Greek. It is currently housed in the archaeological museum of Pela © Creative Commons

Erotic magic and judicial accusations
2nd century BCE. Papyrus with a marriage contract from Oxyrhynchus (PSI I 64). Among the clauses of the agreement the wife agrees not to administer magic drinks to her husband. Image PSIonline (2024) © ‘Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana’, Florence

Erotic magic and prostitution
Circa 490 BCE. Hetera at the symposium, Attic cup with red figures attributed to the painter Makron. Phtography by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Erotic magic and tragic heroines
150-125 BCE. «The council of the witches», mosaic from Pompeii, Villa of Cicero, signed by Dioscorides of Samos. Photography by Raquel Martín Hernández (2023) © Raquel Martín Hernández

Dido and Anna
1st century CE. Wall painting from Pompei, house of Meleager. Photography by Marie Lan Nguyen) © ‘Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli’ (inv. 8898)

Anna Perenna: White magic in Rome
1st to 4th century CE. Findings from the Anna Perenna fountain (Piazza Euclide, Roma). ‘Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme di Diocleziano’. Foto de Di Flazaza © Di Flazaza

Helena and magic
450-440 BCE. Attic crater with red figures by the Painter of Menelaus, found in Egnatia (Apulia, Italy) and preserved in the ‘Musée du Louvre’ (Paris). In the detail, Menelaus tries to strike Helen, but mesmerized by her beauty, he drops his sword. Aphrodite and Eros watch the scene. Photography by Stéphane Maréchalle (2017) © ‘RMN-Grand Palais’ (‘Musée du Louvre’)

Medea, sorceress scorned
Circa 630 BCE. Medea the sorceress and her magic cauldron, Etruscan olpe in black pottery. Photography by Laura D’Erme (2021), Museum of Etruscan Art © Laura D’Erme

Circe and the ‘femme fatale’
1891. «Circe offering the cup to Ulysses», John William Waterhouse © Oldham Art Gallery, Manchester

Circe, sorceress in love
Circa 440 BCE. Odysseus pursuing Circe, chalice krater attributed to the painter of Persephone, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photografyby Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Marie-Lan Nguyen

Diana and the night flight of the witches
Circa 1451. First known representation of a witch riding a broom; she is accompanied by another woman flying on a white stick. These are marginal drawings from Martin Le Franc's poem 'Le champion des dames' © 'Bibliothèque Nationale de France', Paris, MS. Fr. 12476, fol. 105v.

Proserpina/Persephone: Goddess of the Dead
Roman imperial period, relief of Proserpina and Pluto. ‘Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia’, Calabria (BY-SA 2.0 FR - NC). Photography by Fabien Bièvre-Perrin © Fabien Bièvre-Perrin

Hecate and modern esotericism
2021. Devotional print of Hecate. Illustration by Sara Quintero © Sara Quintero

Hecate, the great goddess of darkness
1st-2nd Century ACE. Marble relief of Hecate in a temple from the time of Hadrian © Kinský Palace, Prague (NM-H10 4742).

On the origin: Female ritual practitioners
20th century BCE. Diorite statuette of a seated woman from Gipar-ku (Irak). Sumerian inscriptions on the seat indicate that it depicts a priestess dedicating the offering to the goddess Ningal. Largely reconstructed. Inv. B16229 © Penn Museum 2022, British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1926

Epilogue: witches in Brazil
1978. «Las Ayabas de Xangô», Carybé, Hector Bernabó, Bahía (Brasil). Xilografía en color, 68cm x 48cm © Museo de Arte de Bahía (IPAC)

The power of rats and rodents in popular beliefs
First century CE. Tomb of a girl named Junia Procula, who died before her ninth birthday. Euphrosyne, her father, erected the monument and used the back of the piece to tell the story of the girl’s mother, Acte, whose name was erased in the inscription © Uffizi Galleries

The animals of Hecate
13th century. Weasel in a medieval edition of On the Nature of Animals. Some beliefs from Rome about this animal passed into later tradition. It was believed that these animals were impure and that they conceived through the ear © ‘Bibliotheque Municipal de Douai’ (manuscript 711) © Creative Commons BY‐NC‐SA 4.0

The power of snakes
Circa 530 BCE. Medea between two serpents. Athenian black-figured lecithus © ‘British Museum’, London

Amulets in Rome: a common protection against the evil eye
First century CE. Younger members of the imperial family on the Ara Pacis Augustae. On the left, the youngest boy, holding a woman’s hand, wears a bulla. On the right, the tallest girl wears a lunula. Photography by R. Rumora (2012) © R. Rumora

The dangers of cooking in Rome
Uncertain dating. Types of Roman cauldrons, found in the Boscoreale Museum, near Pompeii. Source: Wikipedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Maleficent ointments
Roman Early Imperial. Glass perfume bottle cristal © ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’, NY

A formula for cursing
Circa 2 ACE. Roman curse tablet in 2.7 cm lead discovered in 1985 in Cologne, Germany (ID: Thesaurus Defixionum 285). Author unknown

The curse tablet from Pela, Macedonia, 4th century BCE
Date unknown. Image of the unrolled lead sheet (20 x 5cm) discovered in 1986 by archaeologist Maria Akamati in the agora of the city of Pela. In addition to the interest of its contents, it is one of the few texts written in Macedonian Greek. It is currently housed in the archaeological museum of Pela © Creative Commons

Erotic magic and judicial accusations
2nd century BCE. Papyrus with a marriage contract from Oxyrhynchus (PSI I 64). Among the clauses of the agreement the wife agrees not to administer magic drinks to her husband. Image PSIonline (2024) © ‘Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana’, Florence

Erotic magic and prostitution
Circa 490 BCE. Hetera at the symposium, Attic cup with red figures attributed to the painter Makron. Phtography by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Erotic magic and tragic heroines
150-125 BCE. «The council of the witches», mosaic from Pompeii, Villa of Cicero, signed by Dioscorides of Samos. Photography by Raquel Martín Hernández (2023) © Raquel Martín Hernández

Dido and Anna
1st century CE. Wall painting from Pompei, house of Meleager. Photography by Marie Lan Nguyen) © ‘Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli’ (inv. 8898)

Anna Perenna: White magic in Rome
1st to 4th century CE. Findings from the Anna Perenna fountain (Piazza Euclide, Roma). ‘Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme di Diocleziano’. Foto de Di Flazaza © Di Flazaza

Helena and magic
450-440 BCE. Attic crater with red figures by the Painter of Menelaus, found in Egnatia (Apulia, Italy) and preserved in the ‘Musée du Louvre’ (Paris). In the detail, Menelaus tries to strike Helen, but mesmerized by her beauty, he drops his sword. Aphrodite and Eros watch the scene. Photography by Stéphane Maréchalle (2017) © ‘RMN-Grand Palais’ (‘Musée du Louvre’)

Medea, sorceress scorned
Circa 630 BCE. Medea the sorceress and her magic cauldron, Etruscan olpe in black pottery. Photography by Laura D’Erme (2021), Museum of Etruscan Art © Laura D’Erme

Circe and the ‘femme fatale’
1891. «Circe offering the cup to Ulysses», John William Waterhouse © Oldham Art Gallery, Manchester

Circe, sorceress in love
Circa 440 BCE. Odysseus pursuing Circe, chalice krater attributed to the painter of Persephone, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photografyby Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Marie-Lan Nguyen

Diana and the night flight of the witches
Circa 1451. First known representation of a witch riding a broom; she is accompanied by another woman flying on a white stick. These are marginal drawings from Martin Le Franc's poem 'Le champion des dames' © 'Bibliothèque Nationale de France', Paris, MS. Fr. 12476, fol. 105v.

Proserpina/Persephone: Goddess of the Dead
Roman imperial period, relief of Proserpina and Pluto. ‘Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia’, Calabria (BY-SA 2.0 FR - NC). Photography by Fabien Bièvre-Perrin © Fabien Bièvre-Perrin

Hecate and modern esotericism
2021. Devotional print of Hecate. Illustration by Sara Quintero © Sara Quintero

Hecate, the great goddess of darkness
1st-2nd Century ACE. Marble relief of Hecate in a temple from the time of Hadrian © Kinský Palace, Prague (NM-H10 4742).

On the origin: Female ritual practitioners
20th century BCE. Diorite statuette of a seated woman from Gipar-ku (Irak). Sumerian inscriptions on the seat indicate that it depicts a priestess dedicating the offering to the goddess Ningal. Largely reconstructed. Inv. B16229 © Penn Museum 2022, British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1926

Epilogue: witches in Brazil
1978. «Las Ayabas de Xangô», Carybé, Hector Bernabó, Bahía (Brasil). Xilografía en color, 68cm x 48cm © Museo de Arte de Bahía (IPAC)

The power of rats and rodents in popular beliefs
First century CE. Tomb of a girl named Junia Procula, who died before her ninth birthday. Euphrosyne, her father, erected the monument and used the back of the piece to tell the story of the girl’s mother, Acte, whose name was erased in the inscription © Uffizi Galleries

The animals of Hecate
13th century. Weasel in a medieval edition of On the Nature of Animals. Some beliefs from Rome about this animal passed into later tradition. It was believed that these animals were impure and that they conceived through the ear © ‘Bibliotheque Municipal de Douai’ (manuscript 711) © Creative Commons BY‐NC‐SA 4.0

The power of snakes
Circa 530 BCE. Medea between two serpents. Athenian black-figured lecithus © ‘British Museum’, London

Amulets in Rome: a common protection against the evil eye
First century CE. Younger members of the imperial family on the Ara Pacis Augustae. On the left, the youngest boy, holding a woman’s hand, wears a bulla. On the right, the tallest girl wears a lunula. Photography by R. Rumora (2012) © R. Rumora

The dangers of cooking in Rome
Uncertain dating. Types of Roman cauldrons, found in the Boscoreale Museum, near Pompeii. Source: Wikipedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Maleficent ointments
Roman Early Imperial. Glass perfume bottle cristal © ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’, NY

A formula for cursing
Circa 2 ACE. Roman curse tablet in 2.7 cm lead discovered in 1985 in Cologne, Germany (ID: Thesaurus Defixionum 285). Author unknown

The curse tablet from Pela, Macedonia, 4th century BCE
Date unknown. Image of the unrolled lead sheet (20 x 5cm) discovered in 1986 by archaeologist Maria Akamati in the agora of the city of Pela. In addition to the interest of its contents, it is one of the few texts written in Macedonian Greek. It is currently housed in the archaeological museum of Pela © Creative Commons

Erotic magic and judicial accusations
2nd century BCE. Papyrus with a marriage contract from Oxyrhynchus (PSI I 64). Among the clauses of the agreement the wife agrees not to administer magic drinks to her husband. Image PSIonline (2024) © ‘Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana’, Florence

Erotic magic and prostitution
Circa 490 BCE. Hetera at the symposium, Attic cup with red figures attributed to the painter Makron. Phtography by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Erotic magic and tragic heroines
150-125 BCE. «The council of the witches», mosaic from Pompeii, Villa of Cicero, signed by Dioscorides of Samos. Photography by Raquel Martín Hernández (2023) © Raquel Martín Hernández

Dido and Anna
1st century CE. Wall painting from Pompei, house of Meleager. Photography by Marie Lan Nguyen) © ‘Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli’ (inv. 8898)

Anna Perenna: White magic in Rome
1st to 4th century CE. Findings from the Anna Perenna fountain (Piazza Euclide, Roma). ‘Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme di Diocleziano’. Foto de Di Flazaza © Di Flazaza

Helena and magic
450-440 BCE. Attic crater with red figures by the Painter of Menelaus, found in Egnatia (Apulia, Italy) and preserved in the ‘Musée du Louvre’ (Paris). In the detail, Menelaus tries to strike Helen, but mesmerized by her beauty, he drops his sword. Aphrodite and Eros watch the scene. Photography by Stéphane Maréchalle (2017) © ‘RMN-Grand Palais’ (‘Musée du Louvre’)

Medea, sorceress scorned
Circa 630 BCE. Medea the sorceress and her magic cauldron, Etruscan olpe in black pottery. Photography by Laura D’Erme (2021), Museum of Etruscan Art © Laura D’Erme

Circe and the ‘femme fatale’
1891. «Circe offering the cup to Ulysses», John William Waterhouse © Oldham Art Gallery, Manchester

Circe, sorceress in love
Circa 440 BCE. Odysseus pursuing Circe, chalice krater attributed to the painter of Persephone, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photografyby Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Marie-Lan Nguyen

Diana and the night flight of the witches
Circa 1451. First known representation of a witch riding a broom; she is accompanied by another woman flying on a white stick. These are marginal drawings from Martin Le Franc's poem 'Le champion des dames' © 'Bibliothèque Nationale de France', Paris, MS. Fr. 12476, fol. 105v.

Proserpina/Persephone: Goddess of the Dead
Roman imperial period, relief of Proserpina and Pluto. ‘Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia’, Calabria (BY-SA 2.0 FR - NC). Photography by Fabien Bièvre-Perrin © Fabien Bièvre-Perrin

Hecate and modern esotericism
2021. Devotional print of Hecate. Illustration by Sara Quintero © Sara Quintero

Hecate, the great goddess of darkness
1st-2nd Century ACE. Marble relief of Hecate in a temple from the time of Hadrian © Kinský Palace, Prague (NM-H10 4742).

On the origin: Female ritual practitioners
20th century BCE. Diorite statuette of a seated woman from Gipar-ku (Irak). Sumerian inscriptions on the seat indicate that it depicts a priestess dedicating the offering to the goddess Ningal. Largely reconstructed. Inv. B16229 © Penn Museum 2022, British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1926

Epilogue: witches in Brazil
1978. «Las Ayabas de Xangô», Carybé, Hector Bernabó, Bahía (Brasil). Xilografía en color, 68cm x 48cm © Museo de Arte de Bahía (IPAC)

The power of rats and rodents in popular beliefs
First century CE. Tomb of a girl named Junia Procula, who died before her ninth birthday. Euphrosyne, her father, erected the monument and used the back of the piece to tell the story of the girl’s mother, Acte, whose name was erased in the inscription © Uffizi Galleries

The animals of Hecate
13th century. Weasel in a medieval edition of On the Nature of Animals. Some beliefs from Rome about this animal passed into later tradition. It was believed that these animals were impure and that they conceived through the ear © ‘Bibliotheque Municipal de Douai’ (manuscript 711) © Creative Commons BY‐NC‐SA 4.0

The power of snakes
Circa 530 BCE. Medea between two serpents. Athenian black-figured lecithus © ‘British Museum’, London

Amulets in Rome: a common protection against the evil eye
First century CE. Younger members of the imperial family on the Ara Pacis Augustae. On the left, the youngest boy, holding a woman’s hand, wears a bulla. On the right, the tallest girl wears a lunula. Photography by R. Rumora (2012) © R. Rumora

The dangers of cooking in Rome
Uncertain dating. Types of Roman cauldrons, found in the Boscoreale Museum, near Pompeii. Source: Wikipedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Maleficent ointments
Roman Early Imperial. Glass perfume bottle cristal © ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’, NY

A formula for cursing
Circa 2 ACE. Roman curse tablet in 2.7 cm lead discovered in 1985 in Cologne, Germany (ID: Thesaurus Defixionum 285). Author unknown

The curse tablet from Pela, Macedonia, 4th century BCE
Date unknown. Image of the unrolled lead sheet (20 x 5cm) discovered in 1986 by archaeologist Maria Akamati in the agora of the city of Pela. In addition to the interest of its contents, it is one of the few texts written in Macedonian Greek. It is currently housed in the archaeological museum of Pela © Creative Commons

Erotic magic and judicial accusations
2nd century BCE. Papyrus with a marriage contract from Oxyrhynchus (PSI I 64). Among the clauses of the agreement the wife agrees not to administer magic drinks to her husband. Image PSIonline (2024) © ‘Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana’, Florence

Erotic magic and prostitution
Circa 490 BCE. Hetera at the symposium, Attic cup with red figures attributed to the painter Makron. Phtography by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Erotic magic and tragic heroines
150-125 BCE. «The council of the witches», mosaic from Pompeii, Villa of Cicero, signed by Dioscorides of Samos. Photography by Raquel Martín Hernández (2023) © Raquel Martín Hernández

Dido and Anna
1st century CE. Wall painting from Pompei, house of Meleager. Photography by Marie Lan Nguyen) © ‘Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli’ (inv. 8898)

Anna Perenna: White magic in Rome
1st to 4th century CE. Findings from the Anna Perenna fountain (Piazza Euclide, Roma). ‘Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme di Diocleziano’. Foto de Di Flazaza © Di Flazaza

Helena and magic
450-440 BCE. Attic crater with red figures by the Painter of Menelaus, found in Egnatia (Apulia, Italy) and preserved in the ‘Musée du Louvre’ (Paris). In the detail, Menelaus tries to strike Helen, but mesmerized by her beauty, he drops his sword. Aphrodite and Eros watch the scene. Photography by Stéphane Maréchalle (2017) © ‘RMN-Grand Palais’ (‘Musée du Louvre’)

Medea, sorceress scorned
Circa 630 BCE. Medea the sorceress and her magic cauldron, Etruscan olpe in black pottery. Photography by Laura D’Erme (2021), Museum of Etruscan Art © Laura D’Erme

Circe and the ‘femme fatale’
1891. «Circe offering the cup to Ulysses», John William Waterhouse © Oldham Art Gallery, Manchester

Circe, sorceress in love
Circa 440 BCE. Odysseus pursuing Circe, chalice krater attributed to the painter of Persephone, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photografyby Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Marie-Lan Nguyen

Diana and the night flight of the witches
Circa 1451. First known representation of a witch riding a broom; she is accompanied by another woman flying on a white stick. These are marginal drawings from Martin Le Franc's poem 'Le champion des dames' © 'Bibliothèque Nationale de France', Paris, MS. Fr. 12476, fol. 105v.

Proserpina/Persephone: Goddess of the Dead
Roman imperial period, relief of Proserpina and Pluto. ‘Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia’, Calabria (BY-SA 2.0 FR - NC). Photography by Fabien Bièvre-Perrin © Fabien Bièvre-Perrin

Hecate and modern esotericism
2021. Devotional print of Hecate. Illustration by Sara Quintero © Sara Quintero

Hecate, the great goddess of darkness
1st-2nd Century ACE. Marble relief of Hecate in a temple from the time of Hadrian © Kinský Palace, Prague (NM-H10 4742).

On the origin: Female ritual practitioners
20th century BCE. Diorite statuette of a seated woman from Gipar-ku (Irak). Sumerian inscriptions on the seat indicate that it depicts a priestess dedicating the offering to the goddess Ningal. Largely reconstructed. Inv. B16229 © Penn Museum 2022, British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1926

Epilogue: witches in Brazil
1978. «Las Ayabas de Xangô», Carybé, Hector Bernabó, Bahía (Brasil). Xilografía en color, 68cm x 48cm © Museo de Arte de Bahía (IPAC)

The power of rats and rodents in popular beliefs
First century CE. Tomb of a girl named Junia Procula, who died before her ninth birthday. Euphrosyne, her father, erected the monument and used the back of the piece to tell the story of the girl’s mother, Acte, whose name was erased in the inscription © Uffizi Galleries

The animals of Hecate
13th century. Weasel in a medieval edition of On the Nature of Animals. Some beliefs from Rome about this animal passed into later tradition. It was believed that these animals were impure and that they conceived through the ear © ‘Bibliotheque Municipal de Douai’ (manuscript 711) © Creative Commons BY‐NC‐SA 4.0

The power of snakes
Circa 530 BCE. Medea between two serpents. Athenian black-figured lecithus © ‘British Museum’, London

Amulets in Rome: a common protection against the evil eye
First century CE. Younger members of the imperial family on the Ara Pacis Augustae. On the left, the youngest boy, holding a woman’s hand, wears a bulla. On the right, the tallest girl wears a lunula. Photography by R. Rumora (2012) © R. Rumora

The dangers of cooking in Rome
Uncertain dating. Types of Roman cauldrons, found in the Boscoreale Museum, near Pompeii. Source: Wikipedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Maleficent ointments
Roman Early Imperial. Glass perfume bottle cristal © ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’, NY

A formula for cursing
Circa 2 ACE. Roman curse tablet in 2.7 cm lead discovered in 1985 in Cologne, Germany (ID: Thesaurus Defixionum 285). Author unknown

The curse tablet from Pela, Macedonia, 4th century BCE
Date unknown. Image of the unrolled lead sheet (20 x 5cm) discovered in 1986 by archaeologist Maria Akamati in the agora of the city of Pela. In addition to the interest of its contents, it is one of the few texts written in Macedonian Greek. It is currently housed in the archaeological museum of Pela © Creative Commons

Erotic magic and judicial accusations
2nd century BCE. Papyrus with a marriage contract from Oxyrhynchus (PSI I 64). Among the clauses of the agreement the wife agrees not to administer magic drinks to her husband. Image PSIonline (2024) © ‘Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana’, Florence

Erotic magic and prostitution
Circa 490 BCE. Hetera at the symposium, Attic cup with red figures attributed to the painter Makron. Phtography by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Erotic magic and tragic heroines
150-125 BCE. «The council of the witches», mosaic from Pompeii, Villa of Cicero, signed by Dioscorides of Samos. Photography by Raquel Martín Hernández (2023) © Raquel Martín Hernández

Dido and Anna
1st century CE. Wall painting from Pompei, house of Meleager. Photography by Marie Lan Nguyen) © ‘Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli’ (inv. 8898)

Anna Perenna: White magic in Rome
1st to 4th century CE. Findings from the Anna Perenna fountain (Piazza Euclide, Roma). ‘Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme di Diocleziano’. Foto de Di Flazaza © Di Flazaza

Helena and magic
450-440 BCE. Attic crater with red figures by the Painter of Menelaus, found in Egnatia (Apulia, Italy) and preserved in the ‘Musée du Louvre’ (Paris). In the detail, Menelaus tries to strike Helen, but mesmerized by her beauty, he drops his sword. Aphrodite and Eros watch the scene. Photography by Stéphane Maréchalle (2017) © ‘RMN-Grand Palais’ (‘Musée du Louvre’)

Medea, sorceress scorned
Circa 630 BCE. Medea the sorceress and her magic cauldron, Etruscan olpe in black pottery. Photography by Laura D’Erme (2021), Museum of Etruscan Art © Laura D’Erme

Circe and the ‘femme fatale’
1891. «Circe offering the cup to Ulysses», John William Waterhouse © Oldham Art Gallery, Manchester

Circe, sorceress in love
Circa 440 BCE. Odysseus pursuing Circe, chalice krater attributed to the painter of Persephone, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photografyby Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Marie-Lan Nguyen

Diana and the night flight of the witches
Circa 1451. First known representation of a witch riding a broom; she is accompanied by another woman flying on a white stick. These are marginal drawings from Martin Le Franc's poem 'Le champion des dames' © 'Bibliothèque Nationale de France', Paris, MS. Fr. 12476, fol. 105v.

Proserpina/Persephone: Goddess of the Dead
Roman imperial period, relief of Proserpina and Pluto. ‘Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia’, Calabria (BY-SA 2.0 FR - NC). Photography by Fabien Bièvre-Perrin © Fabien Bièvre-Perrin

Hecate and modern esotericism
2021. Devotional print of Hecate. Illustration by Sara Quintero © Sara Quintero

Hecate, the great goddess of darkness
1st-2nd Century ACE. Marble relief of Hecate in a temple from the time of Hadrian © Kinský Palace, Prague (NM-H10 4742).

On the origin: Female ritual practitioners
20th century BCE. Diorite statuette of a seated woman from Gipar-ku (Irak). Sumerian inscriptions on the seat indicate that it depicts a priestess dedicating the offering to the goddess Ningal. Largely reconstructed. Inv. B16229 © Penn Museum 2022, British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1926

Epilogue: witches in Brazil
1978. «Las Ayabas de Xangô», Carybé, Hector Bernabó, Bahía (Brasil). Xilografía en color, 68cm x 48cm © Museo de Arte de Bahía (IPAC)

The power of rats and rodents in popular beliefs
First century CE. Tomb of a girl named Junia Procula, who died before her ninth birthday. Euphrosyne, her father, erected the monument and used the back of the piece to tell the story of the girl’s mother, Acte, whose name was erased in the inscription © Uffizi Galleries

The animals of Hecate
13th century. Weasel in a medieval edition of On the Nature of Animals. Some beliefs from Rome about this animal passed into later tradition. It was believed that these animals were impure and that they conceived through the ear © ‘Bibliotheque Municipal de Douai’ (manuscript 711) © Creative Commons BY‐NC‐SA 4.0

The power of snakes
Circa 530 BCE. Medea between two serpents. Athenian black-figured lecithus © ‘British Museum’, London

Amulets in Rome: a common protection against the evil eye
First century CE. Younger members of the imperial family on the Ara Pacis Augustae. On the left, the youngest boy, holding a woman’s hand, wears a bulla. On the right, the tallest girl wears a lunula. Photography by R. Rumora (2012) © R. Rumora

The dangers of cooking in Rome
Uncertain dating. Types of Roman cauldrons, found in the Boscoreale Museum, near Pompeii. Source: Wikipedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Maleficent ointments
Roman Early Imperial. Glass perfume bottle cristal © ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’, NY

A formula for cursing
Circa 2 ACE. Roman curse tablet in 2.7 cm lead discovered in 1985 in Cologne, Germany (ID: Thesaurus Defixionum 285). Author unknown

The curse tablet from Pela, Macedonia, 4th century BCE
Date unknown. Image of the unrolled lead sheet (20 x 5cm) discovered in 1986 by archaeologist Maria Akamati in the agora of the city of Pela. In addition to the interest of its contents, it is one of the few texts written in Macedonian Greek. It is currently housed in the archaeological museum of Pela © Creative Commons

Erotic magic and judicial accusations
2nd century BCE. Papyrus with a marriage contract from Oxyrhynchus (PSI I 64). Among the clauses of the agreement the wife agrees not to administer magic drinks to her husband. Image PSIonline (2024) © ‘Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana’, Florence

Erotic magic and prostitution
Circa 490 BCE. Hetera at the symposium, Attic cup with red figures attributed to the painter Makron. Phtography by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Erotic magic and tragic heroines
150-125 BCE. «The council of the witches», mosaic from Pompeii, Villa of Cicero, signed by Dioscorides of Samos. Photography by Raquel Martín Hernández (2023) © Raquel Martín Hernández

Dido and Anna
1st century CE. Wall painting from Pompei, house of Meleager. Photography by Marie Lan Nguyen) © ‘Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli’ (inv. 8898)

Anna Perenna: White magic in Rome
1st to 4th century CE. Findings from the Anna Perenna fountain (Piazza Euclide, Roma). ‘Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme di Diocleziano’. Foto de Di Flazaza © Di Flazaza

Helena and magic
450-440 BCE. Attic crater with red figures by the Painter of Menelaus, found in Egnatia (Apulia, Italy) and preserved in the ‘Musée du Louvre’ (Paris). In the detail, Menelaus tries to strike Helen, but mesmerized by her beauty, he drops his sword. Aphrodite and Eros watch the scene. Photography by Stéphane Maréchalle (2017) © ‘RMN-Grand Palais’ (‘Musée du Louvre’)

Medea, sorceress scorned
Circa 630 BCE. Medea the sorceress and her magic cauldron, Etruscan olpe in black pottery. Photography by Laura D’Erme (2021), Museum of Etruscan Art © Laura D’Erme

Circe and the ‘femme fatale’
1891. «Circe offering the cup to Ulysses», John William Waterhouse © Oldham Art Gallery, Manchester

Circe, sorceress in love
Circa 440 BCE. Odysseus pursuing Circe, chalice krater attributed to the painter of Persephone, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photografyby Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Marie-Lan Nguyen

Diana and the night flight of the witches
Circa 1451. First known representation of a witch riding a broom; she is accompanied by another woman flying on a white stick. These are marginal drawings from Martin Le Franc's poem 'Le champion des dames' © 'Bibliothèque Nationale de France', Paris, MS. Fr. 12476, fol. 105v.

Proserpina/Persephone: Goddess of the Dead
Roman imperial period, relief of Proserpina and Pluto. ‘Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia’, Calabria (BY-SA 2.0 FR - NC). Photography by Fabien Bièvre-Perrin © Fabien Bièvre-Perrin

Hecate and modern esotericism
2021. Devotional print of Hecate. Illustration by Sara Quintero © Sara Quintero

Hecate, the great goddess of darkness
1st-2nd Century ACE. Marble relief of Hecate in a temple from the time of Hadrian © Kinský Palace, Prague (NM-H10 4742).

On the origin: Female ritual practitioners
20th century BCE. Diorite statuette of a seated woman from Gipar-ku (Irak). Sumerian inscriptions on the seat indicate that it depicts a priestess dedicating the offering to the goddess Ningal. Largely reconstructed. Inv. B16229 © Penn Museum 2022, British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1926

Epilogue: witches in Brazil
1978. «Las Ayabas de Xangô», Carybé, Hector Bernabó, Bahía (Brasil). Xilografía en color, 68cm x 48cm © Museo de Arte de Bahía (IPAC)

The power of rats and rodents in popular beliefs
First century CE. Tomb of a girl named Junia Procula, who died before her ninth birthday. Euphrosyne, her father, erected the monument and used the back of the piece to tell the story of the girl’s mother, Acte, whose name was erased in the inscription © Uffizi Galleries

The animals of Hecate
13th century. Weasel in a medieval edition of On the Nature of Animals. Some beliefs from Rome about this animal passed into later tradition. It was believed that these animals were impure and that they conceived through the ear © ‘Bibliotheque Municipal de Douai’ (manuscript 711) © Creative Commons BY‐NC‐SA 4.0

The power of snakes
Circa 530 BCE. Medea between two serpents. Athenian black-figured lecithus © ‘British Museum’, London

Amulets in Rome: a common protection against the evil eye
First century CE. Younger members of the imperial family on the Ara Pacis Augustae. On the left, the youngest boy, holding a woman’s hand, wears a bulla. On the right, the tallest girl wears a lunula. Photography by R. Rumora (2012) © R. Rumora

The dangers of cooking in Rome
Uncertain dating. Types of Roman cauldrons, found in the Boscoreale Museum, near Pompeii. Source: Wikipedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Maleficent ointments
Roman Early Imperial. Glass perfume bottle cristal © ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’, NY

A formula for cursing
Circa 2 ACE. Roman curse tablet in 2.7 cm lead discovered in 1985 in Cologne, Germany (ID: Thesaurus Defixionum 285). Author unknown

The curse tablet from Pela, Macedonia, 4th century BCE
Date unknown. Image of the unrolled lead sheet (20 x 5cm) discovered in 1986 by archaeologist Maria Akamati in the agora of the city of Pela. In addition to the interest of its contents, it is one of the few texts written in Macedonian Greek. It is currently housed in the archaeological museum of Pela © Creative Commons

Erotic magic and judicial accusations
2nd century BCE. Papyrus with a marriage contract from Oxyrhynchus (PSI I 64). Among the clauses of the agreement the wife agrees not to administer magic drinks to her husband. Image PSIonline (2024) © ‘Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana’, Florence

Erotic magic and prostitution
Circa 490 BCE. Hetera at the symposium, Attic cup with red figures attributed to the painter Makron. Phtography by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Erotic magic and tragic heroines
150-125 BCE. «The council of the witches», mosaic from Pompeii, Villa of Cicero, signed by Dioscorides of Samos. Photography by Raquel Martín Hernández (2023) © Raquel Martín Hernández

Dido and Anna
1st century CE. Wall painting from Pompei, house of Meleager. Photography by Marie Lan Nguyen) © ‘Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli’ (inv. 8898)

Anna Perenna: White magic in Rome
1st to 4th century CE. Findings from the Anna Perenna fountain (Piazza Euclide, Roma). ‘Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme di Diocleziano’. Foto de Di Flazaza © Di Flazaza

Helena and magic
450-440 BCE. Attic crater with red figures by the Painter of Menelaus, found in Egnatia (Apulia, Italy) and preserved in the ‘Musée du Louvre’ (Paris). In the detail, Menelaus tries to strike Helen, but mesmerized by her beauty, he drops his sword. Aphrodite and Eros watch the scene. Photography by Stéphane Maréchalle (2017) © ‘RMN-Grand Palais’ (‘Musée du Louvre’)

Medea, sorceress scorned
Circa 630 BCE. Medea the sorceress and her magic cauldron, Etruscan olpe in black pottery. Photography by Laura D’Erme (2021), Museum of Etruscan Art © Laura D’Erme

Circe and the ‘femme fatale’
1891. «Circe offering the cup to Ulysses», John William Waterhouse © Oldham Art Gallery, Manchester

Circe, sorceress in love
Circa 440 BCE. Odysseus pursuing Circe, chalice krater attributed to the painter of Persephone, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photografyby Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Marie-Lan Nguyen

Diana and the night flight of the witches
Circa 1451. First known representation of a witch riding a broom; she is accompanied by another woman flying on a white stick. These are marginal drawings from Martin Le Franc's poem 'Le champion des dames' © 'Bibliothèque Nationale de France', Paris, MS. Fr. 12476, fol. 105v.

Proserpina/Persephone: Goddess of the Dead
Roman imperial period, relief of Proserpina and Pluto. ‘Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia’, Calabria (BY-SA 2.0 FR - NC). Photography by Fabien Bièvre-Perrin © Fabien Bièvre-Perrin

Hecate and modern esotericism
2021. Devotional print of Hecate. Illustration by Sara Quintero © Sara Quintero

Hecate, the great goddess of darkness
1st-2nd Century ACE. Marble relief of Hecate in a temple from the time of Hadrian © Kinský Palace, Prague (NM-H10 4742).

On the origin: Female ritual practitioners
20th century BCE. Diorite statuette of a seated woman from Gipar-ku (Irak). Sumerian inscriptions on the seat indicate that it depicts a priestess dedicating the offering to the goddess Ningal. Largely reconstructed. Inv. B16229 © Penn Museum 2022, British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1926

Epilogue: witches in Brazil
1978. «Las Ayabas de Xangô», Carybé, Hector Bernabó, Bahía (Brasil). Xilografía en color, 68cm x 48cm © Museo de Arte de Bahía (IPAC)

The power of rats and rodents in popular beliefs
First century CE. Tomb of a girl named Junia Procula, who died before her ninth birthday. Euphrosyne, her father, erected the monument and used the back of the piece to tell the story of the girl’s mother, Acte, whose name was erased in the inscription © Uffizi Galleries

The animals of Hecate
13th century. Weasel in a medieval edition of On the Nature of Animals. Some beliefs from Rome about this animal passed into later tradition. It was believed that these animals were impure and that they conceived through the ear © ‘Bibliotheque Municipal de Douai’ (manuscript 711) © Creative Commons BY‐NC‐SA 4.0

The power of snakes
Circa 530 BCE. Medea between two serpents. Athenian black-figured lecithus © ‘British Museum’, London

Amulets in Rome: a common protection against the evil eye
First century CE. Younger members of the imperial family on the Ara Pacis Augustae. On the left, the youngest boy, holding a woman’s hand, wears a bulla. On the right, the tallest girl wears a lunula. Photography by R. Rumora (2012) © R. Rumora

The dangers of cooking in Rome
Uncertain dating. Types of Roman cauldrons, found in the Boscoreale Museum, near Pompeii. Source: Wikipedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Maleficent ointments
Roman Early Imperial. Glass perfume bottle cristal © ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’, NY

A formula for cursing
Circa 2 ACE. Roman curse tablet in 2.7 cm lead discovered in 1985 in Cologne, Germany (ID: Thesaurus Defixionum 285). Author unknown

The curse tablet from Pela, Macedonia, 4th century BCE
Date unknown. Image of the unrolled lead sheet (20 x 5cm) discovered in 1986 by archaeologist Maria Akamati in the agora of the city of Pela. In addition to the interest of its contents, it is one of the few texts written in Macedonian Greek. It is currently housed in the archaeological museum of Pela © Creative Commons

Erotic magic and judicial accusations
2nd century BCE. Papyrus with a marriage contract from Oxyrhynchus (PSI I 64). Among the clauses of the agreement the wife agrees not to administer magic drinks to her husband. Image PSIonline (2024) © ‘Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana’, Florence

Erotic magic and prostitution
Circa 490 BCE. Hetera at the symposium, Attic cup with red figures attributed to the painter Makron. Phtography by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Erotic magic and tragic heroines
150-125 BCE. «The council of the witches», mosaic from Pompeii, Villa of Cicero, signed by Dioscorides of Samos. Photography by Raquel Martín Hernández (2023) © Raquel Martín Hernández

Dido and Anna
1st century CE. Wall painting from Pompei, house of Meleager. Photography by Marie Lan Nguyen) © ‘Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli’ (inv. 8898)

Anna Perenna: White magic in Rome
1st to 4th century CE. Findings from the Anna Perenna fountain (Piazza Euclide, Roma). ‘Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme di Diocleziano’. Foto de Di Flazaza © Di Flazaza

Helena and magic
450-440 BCE. Attic crater with red figures by the Painter of Menelaus, found in Egnatia (Apulia, Italy) and preserved in the ‘Musée du Louvre’ (Paris). In the detail, Menelaus tries to strike Helen, but mesmerized by her beauty, he drops his sword. Aphrodite and Eros watch the scene. Photography by Stéphane Maréchalle (2017) © ‘RMN-Grand Palais’ (‘Musée du Louvre’)

Medea, sorceress scorned
Circa 630 BCE. Medea the sorceress and her magic cauldron, Etruscan olpe in black pottery. Photography by Laura D’Erme (2021), Museum of Etruscan Art © Laura D’Erme

Circe and the ‘femme fatale’
1891. «Circe offering the cup to Ulysses», John William Waterhouse © Oldham Art Gallery, Manchester

Circe, sorceress in love
Circa 440 BCE. Odysseus pursuing Circe, chalice krater attributed to the painter of Persephone, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photografyby Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Marie-Lan Nguyen

Diana and the night flight of the witches
Circa 1451. First known representation of a witch riding a broom; she is accompanied by another woman flying on a white stick. These are marginal drawings from Martin Le Franc's poem 'Le champion des dames' © 'Bibliothèque Nationale de France', Paris, MS. Fr. 12476, fol. 105v.

Proserpina/Persephone: Goddess of the Dead
Roman imperial period, relief of Proserpina and Pluto. ‘Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia’, Calabria (BY-SA 2.0 FR - NC). Photography by Fabien Bièvre-Perrin © Fabien Bièvre-Perrin

Hecate and modern esotericism
2021. Devotional print of Hecate. Illustration by Sara Quintero © Sara Quintero

Hecate, the great goddess of darkness
1st-2nd Century ACE. Marble relief of Hecate in a temple from the time of Hadrian © Kinský Palace, Prague (NM-H10 4742).

On the origin: Female ritual practitioners
20th century BCE. Diorite statuette of a seated woman from Gipar-ku (Irak). Sumerian inscriptions on the seat indicate that it depicts a priestess dedicating the offering to the goddess Ningal. Largely reconstructed. Inv. B16229 © Penn Museum 2022, British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1926

Epilogue: witches in Brazil
1978. «Las Ayabas de Xangô», Carybé, Hector Bernabó, Bahía (Brasil). Xilografía en color, 68cm x 48cm © Museo de Arte de Bahía (IPAC)

The power of rats and rodents in popular beliefs
First century CE. Tomb of a girl named Junia Procula, who died before her ninth birthday. Euphrosyne, her father, erected the monument and used the back of the piece to tell the story of the girl’s mother, Acte, whose name was erased in the inscription © Uffizi Galleries

The animals of Hecate
13th century. Weasel in a medieval edition of On the Nature of Animals. Some beliefs from Rome about this animal passed into later tradition. It was believed that these animals were impure and that they conceived through the ear © ‘Bibliotheque Municipal de Douai’ (manuscript 711) © Creative Commons BY‐NC‐SA 4.0

The power of snakes
Circa 530 BCE. Medea between two serpents. Athenian black-figured lecithus © ‘British Museum’, London

Amulets in Rome: a common protection against the evil eye
First century CE. Younger members of the imperial family on the Ara Pacis Augustae. On the left, the youngest boy, holding a woman’s hand, wears a bulla. On the right, the tallest girl wears a lunula. Photography by R. Rumora (2012) © R. Rumora

The dangers of cooking in Rome
Uncertain dating. Types of Roman cauldrons, found in the Boscoreale Museum, near Pompeii. Source: Wikipedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Maleficent ointments
Roman Early Imperial. Glass perfume bottle cristal © ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’, NY

A formula for cursing
Circa 2 ACE. Roman curse tablet in 2.7 cm lead discovered in 1985 in Cologne, Germany (ID: Thesaurus Defixionum 285). Author unknown

The curse tablet from Pela, Macedonia, 4th century BCE
Date unknown. Image of the unrolled lead sheet (20 x 5cm) discovered in 1986 by archaeologist Maria Akamati in the agora of the city of Pela. In addition to the interest of its contents, it is one of the few texts written in Macedonian Greek. It is currently housed in the archaeological museum of Pela © Creative Commons

Erotic magic and judicial accusations
2nd century BCE. Papyrus with a marriage contract from Oxyrhynchus (PSI I 64). Among the clauses of the agreement the wife agrees not to administer magic drinks to her husband. Image PSIonline (2024) © ‘Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana’, Florence

Erotic magic and prostitution
Circa 490 BCE. Hetera at the symposium, Attic cup with red figures attributed to the painter Makron. Phtography by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Erotic magic and tragic heroines
150-125 BCE. «The council of the witches», mosaic from Pompeii, Villa of Cicero, signed by Dioscorides of Samos. Photography by Raquel Martín Hernández (2023) © Raquel Martín Hernández

Dido and Anna
1st century CE. Wall painting from Pompei, house of Meleager. Photography by Marie Lan Nguyen) © ‘Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli’ (inv. 8898)

Anna Perenna: White magic in Rome
1st to 4th century CE. Findings from the Anna Perenna fountain (Piazza Euclide, Roma). ‘Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme di Diocleziano’. Foto de Di Flazaza © Di Flazaza

Helena and magic
450-440 BCE. Attic crater with red figures by the Painter of Menelaus, found in Egnatia (Apulia, Italy) and preserved in the ‘Musée du Louvre’ (Paris). In the detail, Menelaus tries to strike Helen, but mesmerized by her beauty, he drops his sword. Aphrodite and Eros watch the scene. Photography by Stéphane Maréchalle (2017) © ‘RMN-Grand Palais’ (‘Musée du Louvre’)

Medea, sorceress scorned
Circa 630 BCE. Medea the sorceress and her magic cauldron, Etruscan olpe in black pottery. Photography by Laura D’Erme (2021), Museum of Etruscan Art © Laura D’Erme

Circe and the ‘femme fatale’
1891. «Circe offering the cup to Ulysses», John William Waterhouse © Oldham Art Gallery, Manchester

Circe, sorceress in love
Circa 440 BCE. Odysseus pursuing Circe, chalice krater attributed to the painter of Persephone, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photografyby Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Marie-Lan Nguyen

Diana and the night flight of the witches
Circa 1451. First known representation of a witch riding a broom; she is accompanied by another woman flying on a white stick. These are marginal drawings from Martin Le Franc's poem 'Le champion des dames' © 'Bibliothèque Nationale de France', Paris, MS. Fr. 12476, fol. 105v.

Proserpina/Persephone: Goddess of the Dead
Roman imperial period, relief of Proserpina and Pluto. ‘Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia’, Calabria (BY-SA 2.0 FR - NC). Photography by Fabien Bièvre-Perrin © Fabien Bièvre-Perrin

Hecate and modern esotericism
2021. Devotional print of Hecate. Illustration by Sara Quintero © Sara Quintero

Hecate, the great goddess of darkness
1st-2nd Century ACE. Marble relief of Hecate in a temple from the time of Hadrian © Kinský Palace, Prague (NM-H10 4742).

On the origin: Female ritual practitioners
20th century BCE. Diorite statuette of a seated woman from Gipar-ku (Irak). Sumerian inscriptions on the seat indicate that it depicts a priestess dedicating the offering to the goddess Ningal. Largely reconstructed. Inv. B16229 © Penn Museum 2022, British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1926

Epilogue: witches in Brazil
1978. «Las Ayabas de Xangô», Carybé, Hector Bernabó, Bahía (Brasil). Xilografía en color, 68cm x 48cm © Museo de Arte de Bahía (IPAC)

The power of rats and rodents in popular beliefs
First century CE. Tomb of a girl named Junia Procula, who died before her ninth birthday. Euphrosyne, her father, erected the monument and used the back of the piece to tell the story of the girl’s mother, Acte, whose name was erased in the inscription © Uffizi Galleries

The animals of Hecate
13th century. Weasel in a medieval edition of On the Nature of Animals. Some beliefs from Rome about this animal passed into later tradition. It was believed that these animals were impure and that they conceived through the ear © ‘Bibliotheque Municipal de Douai’ (manuscript 711) © Creative Commons BY‐NC‐SA 4.0

The power of snakes
Circa 530 BCE. Medea between two serpents. Athenian black-figured lecithus © ‘British Museum’, London

Amulets in Rome: a common protection against the evil eye
First century CE. Younger members of the imperial family on the Ara Pacis Augustae. On the left, the youngest boy, holding a woman’s hand, wears a bulla. On the right, the tallest girl wears a lunula. Photography by R. Rumora (2012) © R. Rumora

The dangers of cooking in Rome
Uncertain dating. Types of Roman cauldrons, found in the Boscoreale Museum, near Pompeii. Source: Wikipedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Maleficent ointments
Roman Early Imperial. Glass perfume bottle cristal © ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’, NY

A formula for cursing
Circa 2 ACE. Roman curse tablet in 2.7 cm lead discovered in 1985 in Cologne, Germany (ID: Thesaurus Defixionum 285). Author unknown

The curse tablet from Pela, Macedonia, 4th century BCE
Date unknown. Image of the unrolled lead sheet (20 x 5cm) discovered in 1986 by archaeologist Maria Akamati in the agora of the city of Pela. In addition to the interest of its contents, it is one of the few texts written in Macedonian Greek. It is currently housed in the archaeological museum of Pela © Creative Commons

Erotic magic and judicial accusations
2nd century BCE. Papyrus with a marriage contract from Oxyrhynchus (PSI I 64). Among the clauses of the agreement the wife agrees not to administer magic drinks to her husband. Image PSIonline (2024) © ‘Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana’, Florence

Erotic magic and prostitution
Circa 490 BCE. Hetera at the symposium, Attic cup with red figures attributed to the painter Makron. Phtography by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Erotic magic and tragic heroines
150-125 BCE. «The council of the witches», mosaic from Pompeii, Villa of Cicero, signed by Dioscorides of Samos. Photography by Raquel Martín Hernández (2023) © Raquel Martín Hernández

Dido and Anna
1st century CE. Wall painting from Pompei, house of Meleager. Photography by Marie Lan Nguyen) © ‘Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli’ (inv. 8898)

Anna Perenna: White magic in Rome
1st to 4th century CE. Findings from the Anna Perenna fountain (Piazza Euclide, Roma). ‘Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme di Diocleziano’. Foto de Di Flazaza © Di Flazaza

Helena and magic
450-440 BCE. Attic crater with red figures by the Painter of Menelaus, found in Egnatia (Apulia, Italy) and preserved in the ‘Musée du Louvre’ (Paris). In the detail, Menelaus tries to strike Helen, but mesmerized by her beauty, he drops his sword. Aphrodite and Eros watch the scene. Photography by Stéphane Maréchalle (2017) © ‘RMN-Grand Palais’ (‘Musée du Louvre’)

Medea, sorceress scorned
Circa 630 BCE. Medea the sorceress and her magic cauldron, Etruscan olpe in black pottery. Photography by Laura D’Erme (2021), Museum of Etruscan Art © Laura D’Erme

Circe and the ‘femme fatale’
1891. «Circe offering the cup to Ulysses», John William Waterhouse © Oldham Art Gallery, Manchester

Circe, sorceress in love
Circa 440 BCE. Odysseus pursuing Circe, chalice krater attributed to the painter of Persephone, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photografyby Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Marie-Lan Nguyen

Diana and the night flight of the witches
Circa 1451. First known representation of a witch riding a broom; she is accompanied by another woman flying on a white stick. These are marginal drawings from Martin Le Franc's poem 'Le champion des dames' © 'Bibliothèque Nationale de France', Paris, MS. Fr. 12476, fol. 105v.

Proserpina/Persephone: Goddess of the Dead
Roman imperial period, relief of Proserpina and Pluto. ‘Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia’, Calabria (BY-SA 2.0 FR - NC). Photography by Fabien Bièvre-Perrin © Fabien Bièvre-Perrin

Hecate and modern esotericism
2021. Devotional print of Hecate. Illustration by Sara Quintero © Sara Quintero

Hecate, the great goddess of darkness
1st-2nd Century ACE. Marble relief of Hecate in a temple from the time of Hadrian © Kinský Palace, Prague (NM-H10 4742).

On the origin: Female ritual practitioners
20th century BCE. Diorite statuette of a seated woman from Gipar-ku (Irak). Sumerian inscriptions on the seat indicate that it depicts a priestess dedicating the offering to the goddess Ningal. Largely reconstructed. Inv. B16229 © Penn Museum 2022, British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1926

Epilogue: witches in Brazil
1978. «Las Ayabas de Xangô», Carybé, Hector Bernabó, Bahía (Brasil). Xilografía en color, 68cm x 48cm © Museo de Arte de Bahía (IPAC)

The power of rats and rodents in popular beliefs
First century CE. Tomb of a girl named Junia Procula, who died before her ninth birthday. Euphrosyne, her father, erected the monument and used the back of the piece to tell the story of the girl’s mother, Acte, whose name was erased in the inscription © Uffizi Galleries

The animals of Hecate
13th century. Weasel in a medieval edition of On the Nature of Animals. Some beliefs from Rome about this animal passed into later tradition. It was believed that these animals were impure and that they conceived through the ear © ‘Bibliotheque Municipal de Douai’ (manuscript 711) © Creative Commons BY‐NC‐SA 4.0

The power of snakes
Circa 530 BCE. Medea between two serpents. Athenian black-figured lecithus © ‘British Museum’, London

Amulets in Rome: a common protection against the evil eye
First century CE. Younger members of the imperial family on the Ara Pacis Augustae. On the left, the youngest boy, holding a woman’s hand, wears a bulla. On the right, the tallest girl wears a lunula. Photography by R. Rumora (2012) © R. Rumora

The dangers of cooking in Rome
Uncertain dating. Types of Roman cauldrons, found in the Boscoreale Museum, near Pompeii. Source: Wikipedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Maleficent ointments
Roman Early Imperial. Glass perfume bottle cristal © ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’, NY

A formula for cursing
Circa 2 ACE. Roman curse tablet in 2.7 cm lead discovered in 1985 in Cologne, Germany (ID: Thesaurus Defixionum 285). Author unknown

The curse tablet from Pela, Macedonia, 4th century BCE
Date unknown. Image of the unrolled lead sheet (20 x 5cm) discovered in 1986 by archaeologist Maria Akamati in the agora of the city of Pela. In addition to the interest of its contents, it is one of the few texts written in Macedonian Greek. It is currently housed in the archaeological museum of Pela © Creative Commons

Erotic magic and judicial accusations
2nd century BCE. Papyrus with a marriage contract from Oxyrhynchus (PSI I 64). Among the clauses of the agreement the wife agrees not to administer magic drinks to her husband. Image PSIonline (2024) © ‘Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana’, Florence

Erotic magic and prostitution
Circa 490 BCE. Hetera at the symposium, Attic cup with red figures attributed to the painter Makron. Phtography by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Erotic magic and tragic heroines
150-125 BCE. «The council of the witches», mosaic from Pompeii, Villa of Cicero, signed by Dioscorides of Samos. Photography by Raquel Martín Hernández (2023) © Raquel Martín Hernández

Dido and Anna
1st century CE. Wall painting from Pompei, house of Meleager. Photography by Marie Lan Nguyen) © ‘Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli’ (inv. 8898)

Anna Perenna: White magic in Rome
1st to 4th century CE. Findings from the Anna Perenna fountain (Piazza Euclide, Roma). ‘Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme di Diocleziano’. Foto de Di Flazaza © Di Flazaza

Helena and magic
450-440 BCE. Attic crater with red figures by the Painter of Menelaus, found in Egnatia (Apulia, Italy) and preserved in the ‘Musée du Louvre’ (Paris). In the detail, Menelaus tries to strike Helen, but mesmerized by her beauty, he drops his sword. Aphrodite and Eros watch the scene. Photography by Stéphane Maréchalle (2017) © ‘RMN-Grand Palais’ (‘Musée du Louvre’)

Medea, sorceress scorned
Circa 630 BCE. Medea the sorceress and her magic cauldron, Etruscan olpe in black pottery. Photography by Laura D’Erme (2021), Museum of Etruscan Art © Laura D’Erme

Circe and the ‘femme fatale’
1891. «Circe offering the cup to Ulysses», John William Waterhouse © Oldham Art Gallery, Manchester

Circe, sorceress in love
Circa 440 BCE. Odysseus pursuing Circe, chalice krater attributed to the painter of Persephone, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photografyby Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Marie-Lan Nguyen

Diana and the night flight of the witches
Circa 1451. First known representation of a witch riding a broom; she is accompanied by another woman flying on a white stick. These are marginal drawings from Martin Le Franc's poem 'Le champion des dames' © 'Bibliothèque Nationale de France', Paris, MS. Fr. 12476, fol. 105v.

Proserpina/Persephone: Goddess of the Dead
Roman imperial period, relief of Proserpina and Pluto. ‘Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia’, Calabria (BY-SA 2.0 FR - NC). Photography by Fabien Bièvre-Perrin © Fabien Bièvre-Perrin

Hecate and modern esotericism
2021. Devotional print of Hecate. Illustration by Sara Quintero © Sara Quintero

Hecate, the great goddess of darkness
1st-2nd Century ACE. Marble relief of Hecate in a temple from the time of Hadrian © Kinský Palace, Prague (NM-H10 4742).

On the origin: Female ritual practitioners
20th century BCE. Diorite statuette of a seated woman from Gipar-ku (Irak). Sumerian inscriptions on the seat indicate that it depicts a priestess dedicating the offering to the goddess Ningal. Largely reconstructed. Inv. B16229 © Penn Museum 2022, British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1926

Epilogue: witches in Brazil
1978. «Las Ayabas de Xangô», Carybé, Hector Bernabó, Bahía (Brasil). Xilografía en color, 68cm x 48cm © Museo de Arte de Bahía (IPAC)

The power of rats and rodents in popular beliefs
First century CE. Tomb of a girl named Junia Procula, who died before her ninth birthday. Euphrosyne, her father, erected the monument and used the back of the piece to tell the story of the girl’s mother, Acte, whose name was erased in the inscription © Uffizi Galleries

The animals of Hecate
13th century. Weasel in a medieval edition of On the Nature of Animals. Some beliefs from Rome about this animal passed into later tradition. It was believed that these animals were impure and that they conceived through the ear © ‘Bibliotheque Municipal de Douai’ (manuscript 711) © Creative Commons BY‐NC‐SA 4.0

The power of snakes
Circa 530 BCE. Medea between two serpents. Athenian black-figured lecithus © ‘British Museum’, London

Amulets in Rome: a common protection against the evil eye
First century CE. Younger members of the imperial family on the Ara Pacis Augustae. On the left, the youngest boy, holding a woman’s hand, wears a bulla. On the right, the tallest girl wears a lunula. Photography by R. Rumora (2012) © R. Rumora

The dangers of cooking in Rome
Uncertain dating. Types of Roman cauldrons, found in the Boscoreale Museum, near Pompeii. Source: Wikipedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Maleficent ointments
Roman Early Imperial. Glass perfume bottle cristal © ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’, NY

A formula for cursing
Circa 2 ACE. Roman curse tablet in 2.7 cm lead discovered in 1985 in Cologne, Germany (ID: Thesaurus Defixionum 285). Author unknown

The curse tablet from Pela, Macedonia, 4th century BCE
Date unknown. Image of the unrolled lead sheet (20 x 5cm) discovered in 1986 by archaeologist Maria Akamati in the agora of the city of Pela. In addition to the interest of its contents, it is one of the few texts written in Macedonian Greek. It is currently housed in the archaeological museum of Pela © Creative Commons

Erotic magic and judicial accusations
2nd century BCE. Papyrus with a marriage contract from Oxyrhynchus (PSI I 64). Among the clauses of the agreement the wife agrees not to administer magic drinks to her husband. Image PSIonline (2024) © ‘Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana’, Florence

Erotic magic and prostitution
Circa 490 BCE. Hetera at the symposium, Attic cup with red figures attributed to the painter Makron. Phtography by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Erotic magic and tragic heroines
150-125 BCE. «The council of the witches», mosaic from Pompeii, Villa of Cicero, signed by Dioscorides of Samos. Photography by Raquel Martín Hernández (2023) © Raquel Martín Hernández

Dido and Anna
1st century CE. Wall painting from Pompei, house of Meleager. Photography by Marie Lan Nguyen) © ‘Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli’ (inv. 8898)

Anna Perenna: White magic in Rome
1st to 4th century CE. Findings from the Anna Perenna fountain (Piazza Euclide, Roma). ‘Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme di Diocleziano’. Foto de Di Flazaza © Di Flazaza

Helena and magic
450-440 BCE. Attic crater with red figures by the Painter of Menelaus, found in Egnatia (Apulia, Italy) and preserved in the ‘Musée du Louvre’ (Paris). In the detail, Menelaus tries to strike Helen, but mesmerized by her beauty, he drops his sword. Aphrodite and Eros watch the scene. Photography by Stéphane Maréchalle (2017) © ‘RMN-Grand Palais’ (‘Musée du Louvre’)

Medea, sorceress scorned
Circa 630 BCE. Medea the sorceress and her magic cauldron, Etruscan olpe in black pottery. Photography by Laura D’Erme (2021), Museum of Etruscan Art © Laura D’Erme

Circe and the ‘femme fatale’
1891. «Circe offering the cup to Ulysses», John William Waterhouse © Oldham Art Gallery, Manchester

Circe, sorceress in love
Circa 440 BCE. Odysseus pursuing Circe, chalice krater attributed to the painter of Persephone, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photografyby Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Marie-Lan Nguyen

Diana and the night flight of the witches
Circa 1451. First known representation of a witch riding a broom; she is accompanied by another woman flying on a white stick. These are marginal drawings from Martin Le Franc's poem 'Le champion des dames' © 'Bibliothèque Nationale de France', Paris, MS. Fr. 12476, fol. 105v.

Proserpina/Persephone: Goddess of the Dead
Roman imperial period, relief of Proserpina and Pluto. ‘Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia’, Calabria (BY-SA 2.0 FR - NC). Photography by Fabien Bièvre-Perrin © Fabien Bièvre-Perrin

Hecate and modern esotericism
2021. Devotional print of Hecate. Illustration by Sara Quintero © Sara Quintero

Hecate, the great goddess of darkness
1st-2nd Century ACE. Marble relief of Hecate in a temple from the time of Hadrian © Kinský Palace, Prague (NM-H10 4742).

On the origin: Female ritual practitioners
20th century BCE. Diorite statuette of a seated woman from Gipar-ku (Irak). Sumerian inscriptions on the seat indicate that it depicts a priestess dedicating the offering to the goddess Ningal. Largely reconstructed. Inv. B16229 © Penn Museum 2022, British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1926

Epilogue: witches in Brazil
1978. «Las Ayabas de Xangô», Carybé, Hector Bernabó, Bahía (Brasil). Xilografía en color, 68cm x 48cm © Museo de Arte de Bahía (IPAC)

The power of rats and rodents in popular beliefs
First century CE. Tomb of a girl named Junia Procula, who died before her ninth birthday. Euphrosyne, her father, erected the monument and used the back of the piece to tell the story of the girl’s mother, Acte, whose name was erased in the inscription © Uffizi Galleries

The animals of Hecate
13th century. Weasel in a medieval edition of On the Nature of Animals. Some beliefs from Rome about this animal passed into later tradition. It was believed that these animals were impure and that they conceived through the ear © ‘Bibliotheque Municipal de Douai’ (manuscript 711) © Creative Commons BY‐NC‐SA 4.0

The power of snakes
Circa 530 BCE. Medea between two serpents. Athenian black-figured lecithus © ‘British Museum’, London

Amulets in Rome: a common protection against the evil eye
First century CE. Younger members of the imperial family on the Ara Pacis Augustae. On the left, the youngest boy, holding a woman’s hand, wears a bulla. On the right, the tallest girl wears a lunula. Photography by R. Rumora (2012) © R. Rumora

The dangers of cooking in Rome
Uncertain dating. Types of Roman cauldrons, found in the Boscoreale Museum, near Pompeii. Source: Wikipedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Maleficent ointments
Roman Early Imperial. Glass perfume bottle cristal © ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’, NY

A formula for cursing
Circa 2 ACE. Roman curse tablet in 2.7 cm lead discovered in 1985 in Cologne, Germany (ID: Thesaurus Defixionum 285). Author unknown

The curse tablet from Pela, Macedonia, 4th century BCE
Date unknown. Image of the unrolled lead sheet (20 x 5cm) discovered in 1986 by archaeologist Maria Akamati in the agora of the city of Pela. In addition to the interest of its contents, it is one of the few texts written in Macedonian Greek. It is currently housed in the archaeological museum of Pela © Creative Commons

Erotic magic and judicial accusations
2nd century BCE. Papyrus with a marriage contract from Oxyrhynchus (PSI I 64). Among the clauses of the agreement the wife agrees not to administer magic drinks to her husband. Image PSIonline (2024) © ‘Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana’, Florence

Erotic magic and prostitution
Circa 490 BCE. Hetera at the symposium, Attic cup with red figures attributed to the painter Makron. Phtography by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Erotic magic and tragic heroines
150-125 BCE. «The council of the witches», mosaic from Pompeii, Villa of Cicero, signed by Dioscorides of Samos. Photography by Raquel Martín Hernández (2023) © Raquel Martín Hernández

Dido and Anna
1st century CE. Wall painting from Pompei, house of Meleager. Photography by Marie Lan Nguyen) © ‘Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli’ (inv. 8898)

Anna Perenna: White magic in Rome
1st to 4th century CE. Findings from the Anna Perenna fountain (Piazza Euclide, Roma). ‘Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme di Diocleziano’. Foto de Di Flazaza © Di Flazaza

Helena and magic
450-440 BCE. Attic crater with red figures by the Painter of Menelaus, found in Egnatia (Apulia, Italy) and preserved in the ‘Musée du Louvre’ (Paris). In the detail, Menelaus tries to strike Helen, but mesmerized by her beauty, he drops his sword. Aphrodite and Eros watch the scene. Photography by Stéphane Maréchalle (2017) © ‘RMN-Grand Palais’ (‘Musée du Louvre’)

Medea, sorceress scorned
Circa 630 BCE. Medea the sorceress and her magic cauldron, Etruscan olpe in black pottery. Photography by Laura D’Erme (2021), Museum of Etruscan Art © Laura D’Erme

Circe and the ‘femme fatale’
1891. «Circe offering the cup to Ulysses», John William Waterhouse © Oldham Art Gallery, Manchester

Circe, sorceress in love
Circa 440 BCE. Odysseus pursuing Circe, chalice krater attributed to the painter of Persephone, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photografyby Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Marie-Lan Nguyen

Diana and the night flight of the witches
Circa 1451. First known representation of a witch riding a broom; she is accompanied by another woman flying on a white stick. These are marginal drawings from Martin Le Franc's poem 'Le champion des dames' © 'Bibliothèque Nationale de France', Paris, MS. Fr. 12476, fol. 105v.

Proserpina/Persephone: Goddess of the Dead
Roman imperial period, relief of Proserpina and Pluto. ‘Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia’, Calabria (BY-SA 2.0 FR - NC). Photography by Fabien Bièvre-Perrin © Fabien Bièvre-Perrin

Hecate and modern esotericism
2021. Devotional print of Hecate. Illustration by Sara Quintero © Sara Quintero

Hecate, the great goddess of darkness
1st-2nd Century ACE. Marble relief of Hecate in a temple from the time of Hadrian © Kinský Palace, Prague (NM-H10 4742).

On the origin: Female ritual practitioners
20th century BCE. Diorite statuette of a seated woman from Gipar-ku (Irak). Sumerian inscriptions on the seat indicate that it depicts a priestess dedicating the offering to the goddess Ningal. Largely reconstructed. Inv. B16229 © Penn Museum 2022, British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1926

Epilogue: witches in Brazil
1978. «Las Ayabas de Xangô», Carybé, Hector Bernabó, Bahía (Brasil). Xilografía en color, 68cm x 48cm © Museo de Arte de Bahía (IPAC)

The power of rats and rodents in popular beliefs
First century CE. Tomb of a girl named Junia Procula, who died before her ninth birthday. Euphrosyne, her father, erected the monument and used the back of the piece to tell the story of the girl’s mother, Acte, whose name was erased in the inscription © Uffizi Galleries

The animals of Hecate
13th century. Weasel in a medieval edition of On the Nature of Animals. Some beliefs from Rome about this animal passed into later tradition. It was believed that these animals were impure and that they conceived through the ear © ‘Bibliotheque Municipal de Douai’ (manuscript 711) © Creative Commons BY‐NC‐SA 4.0

The power of snakes
Circa 530 BCE. Medea between two serpents. Athenian black-figured lecithus © ‘British Museum’, London

Amulets in Rome: a common protection against the evil eye
First century CE. Younger members of the imperial family on the Ara Pacis Augustae. On the left, the youngest boy, holding a woman’s hand, wears a bulla. On the right, the tallest girl wears a lunula. Photography by R. Rumora (2012) © R. Rumora

The dangers of cooking in Rome
Uncertain dating. Types of Roman cauldrons, found in the Boscoreale Museum, near Pompeii. Source: Wikipedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Maleficent ointments
Roman Early Imperial. Glass perfume bottle cristal © ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’, NY

A formula for cursing
Circa 2 ACE. Roman curse tablet in 2.7 cm lead discovered in 1985 in Cologne, Germany (ID: Thesaurus Defixionum 285). Author unknown

The curse tablet from Pela, Macedonia, 4th century BCE
Date unknown. Image of the unrolled lead sheet (20 x 5cm) discovered in 1986 by archaeologist Maria Akamati in the agora of the city of Pela. In addition to the interest of its contents, it is one of the few texts written in Macedonian Greek. It is currently housed in the archaeological museum of Pela © Creative Commons

Erotic magic and judicial accusations
2nd century BCE. Papyrus with a marriage contract from Oxyrhynchus (PSI I 64). Among the clauses of the agreement the wife agrees not to administer magic drinks to her husband. Image PSIonline (2024) © ‘Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana’, Florence

Erotic magic and prostitution
Circa 490 BCE. Hetera at the symposium, Attic cup with red figures attributed to the painter Makron. Phtography by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Erotic magic and tragic heroines
150-125 BCE. «The council of the witches», mosaic from Pompeii, Villa of Cicero, signed by Dioscorides of Samos. Photography by Raquel Martín Hernández (2023) © Raquel Martín Hernández

Dido and Anna
1st century CE. Wall painting from Pompei, house of Meleager. Photography by Marie Lan Nguyen) © ‘Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli’ (inv. 8898)

Anna Perenna: White magic in Rome
1st to 4th century CE. Findings from the Anna Perenna fountain (Piazza Euclide, Roma). ‘Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme di Diocleziano’. Foto de Di Flazaza © Di Flazaza

Helena and magic
450-440 BCE. Attic crater with red figures by the Painter of Menelaus, found in Egnatia (Apulia, Italy) and preserved in the ‘Musée du Louvre’ (Paris). In the detail, Menelaus tries to strike Helen, but mesmerized by her beauty, he drops his sword. Aphrodite and Eros watch the scene. Photography by Stéphane Maréchalle (2017) © ‘RMN-Grand Palais’ (‘Musée du Louvre’)

Medea, sorceress scorned
Circa 630 BCE. Medea the sorceress and her magic cauldron, Etruscan olpe in black pottery. Photography by Laura D’Erme (2021), Museum of Etruscan Art © Laura D’Erme

Circe and the ‘femme fatale’
1891. «Circe offering the cup to Ulysses», John William Waterhouse © Oldham Art Gallery, Manchester

Circe, sorceress in love
Circa 440 BCE. Odysseus pursuing Circe, chalice krater attributed to the painter of Persephone, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photografyby Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Marie-Lan Nguyen

Diana and the night flight of the witches
Circa 1451. First known representation of a witch riding a broom; she is accompanied by another woman flying on a white stick. These are marginal drawings from Martin Le Franc's poem 'Le champion des dames' © 'Bibliothèque Nationale de France', Paris, MS. Fr. 12476, fol. 105v.

Proserpina/Persephone: Goddess of the Dead
Roman imperial period, relief of Proserpina and Pluto. ‘Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia’, Calabria (BY-SA 2.0 FR - NC). Photography by Fabien Bièvre-Perrin © Fabien Bièvre-Perrin

Hecate and modern esotericism
2021. Devotional print of Hecate. Illustration by Sara Quintero © Sara Quintero

Hecate, the great goddess of darkness
1st-2nd Century ACE. Marble relief of Hecate in a temple from the time of Hadrian © Kinský Palace, Prague (NM-H10 4742).

On the origin: Female ritual practitioners
20th century BCE. Diorite statuette of a seated woman from Gipar-ku (Irak). Sumerian inscriptions on the seat indicate that it depicts a priestess dedicating the offering to the goddess Ningal. Largely reconstructed. Inv. B16229 © Penn Museum 2022, British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1926

Epilogue: witches in Brazil
1978. «Las Ayabas de Xangô», Carybé, Hector Bernabó, Bahía (Brasil). Xilografía en color, 68cm x 48cm © Museo de Arte de Bahía (IPAC)

The power of rats and rodents in popular beliefs
First century CE. Tomb of a girl named Junia Procula, who died before her ninth birthday. Euphrosyne, her father, erected the monument and used the back of the piece to tell the story of the girl’s mother, Acte, whose name was erased in the inscription © Uffizi Galleries

The animals of Hecate
13th century. Weasel in a medieval edition of On the Nature of Animals. Some beliefs from Rome about this animal passed into later tradition. It was believed that these animals were impure and that they conceived through the ear © ‘Bibliotheque Municipal de Douai’ (manuscript 711) © Creative Commons BY‐NC‐SA 4.0

The power of snakes
Circa 530 BCE. Medea between two serpents. Athenian black-figured lecithus © ‘British Museum’, London

Amulets in Rome: a common protection against the evil eye
First century CE. Younger members of the imperial family on the Ara Pacis Augustae. On the left, the youngest boy, holding a woman’s hand, wears a bulla. On the right, the tallest girl wears a lunula. Photography by R. Rumora (2012) © R. Rumora

The dangers of cooking in Rome
Uncertain dating. Types of Roman cauldrons, found in the Boscoreale Museum, near Pompeii. Source: Wikipedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Maleficent ointments
Roman Early Imperial. Glass perfume bottle cristal © ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’, NY

A formula for cursing
Circa 2 ACE. Roman curse tablet in 2.7 cm lead discovered in 1985 in Cologne, Germany (ID: Thesaurus Defixionum 285). Author unknown

The curse tablet from Pela, Macedonia, 4th century BCE
Date unknown. Image of the unrolled lead sheet (20 x 5cm) discovered in 1986 by archaeologist Maria Akamati in the agora of the city of Pela. In addition to the interest of its contents, it is one of the few texts written in Macedonian Greek. It is currently housed in the archaeological museum of Pela © Creative Commons

Erotic magic and judicial accusations
2nd century BCE. Papyrus with a marriage contract from Oxyrhynchus (PSI I 64). Among the clauses of the agreement the wife agrees not to administer magic drinks to her husband. Image PSIonline (2024) © ‘Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana’, Florence

Erotic magic and prostitution
Circa 490 BCE. Hetera at the symposium, Attic cup with red figures attributed to the painter Makron. Phtography by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Erotic magic and tragic heroines
150-125 BCE. «The council of the witches», mosaic from Pompeii, Villa of Cicero, signed by Dioscorides of Samos. Photography by Raquel Martín Hernández (2023) © Raquel Martín Hernández

Dido and Anna
1st century CE. Wall painting from Pompei, house of Meleager. Photography by Marie Lan Nguyen) © ‘Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli’ (inv. 8898)

Anna Perenna: White magic in Rome
1st to 4th century CE. Findings from the Anna Perenna fountain (Piazza Euclide, Roma). ‘Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme di Diocleziano’. Foto de Di Flazaza © Di Flazaza

Helena and magic
450-440 BCE. Attic crater with red figures by the Painter of Menelaus, found in Egnatia (Apulia, Italy) and preserved in the ‘Musée du Louvre’ (Paris). In the detail, Menelaus tries to strike Helen, but mesmerized by her beauty, he drops his sword. Aphrodite and Eros watch the scene. Photography by Stéphane Maréchalle (2017) © ‘RMN-Grand Palais’ (‘Musée du Louvre’)

Medea, sorceress scorned
Circa 630 BCE. Medea the sorceress and her magic cauldron, Etruscan olpe in black pottery. Photography by Laura D’Erme (2021), Museum of Etruscan Art © Laura D’Erme

Circe and the ‘femme fatale’
1891. «Circe offering the cup to Ulysses», John William Waterhouse © Oldham Art Gallery, Manchester

Circe, sorceress in love
Circa 440 BCE. Odysseus pursuing Circe, chalice krater attributed to the painter of Persephone, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photografyby Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Marie-Lan Nguyen

Diana and the night flight of the witches
Circa 1451. First known representation of a witch riding a broom; she is accompanied by another woman flying on a white stick. These are marginal drawings from Martin Le Franc's poem 'Le champion des dames' © 'Bibliothèque Nationale de France', Paris, MS. Fr. 12476, fol. 105v.

Proserpina/Persephone: Goddess of the Dead
Roman imperial period, relief of Proserpina and Pluto. ‘Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia’, Calabria (BY-SA 2.0 FR - NC). Photography by Fabien Bièvre-Perrin © Fabien Bièvre-Perrin

Hecate and modern esotericism
2021. Devotional print of Hecate. Illustration by Sara Quintero © Sara Quintero

Hecate, the great goddess of darkness
1st-2nd Century ACE. Marble relief of Hecate in a temple from the time of Hadrian © Kinský Palace, Prague (NM-H10 4742).

On the origin: Female ritual practitioners
20th century BCE. Diorite statuette of a seated woman from Gipar-ku (Irak). Sumerian inscriptions on the seat indicate that it depicts a priestess dedicating the offering to the goddess Ningal. Largely reconstructed. Inv. B16229 © Penn Museum 2022, British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1926

Epilogue: witches in Brazil
1978. «Las Ayabas de Xangô», Carybé, Hector Bernabó, Bahía (Brasil). Xilografía en color, 68cm x 48cm © Museo de Arte de Bahía (IPAC)

The power of rats and rodents in popular beliefs
First century CE. Tomb of a girl named Junia Procula, who died before her ninth birthday. Euphrosyne, her father, erected the monument and used the back of the piece to tell the story of the girl’s mother, Acte, whose name was erased in the inscription © Uffizi Galleries

The animals of Hecate
13th century. Weasel in a medieval edition of On the Nature of Animals. Some beliefs from Rome about this animal passed into later tradition. It was believed that these animals were impure and that they conceived through the ear © ‘Bibliotheque Municipal de Douai’ (manuscript 711) © Creative Commons BY‐NC‐SA 4.0

The power of snakes
Circa 530 BCE. Medea between two serpents. Athenian black-figured lecithus © ‘British Museum’, London

Amulets in Rome: a common protection against the evil eye
First century CE. Younger members of the imperial family on the Ara Pacis Augustae. On the left, the youngest boy, holding a woman’s hand, wears a bulla. On the right, the tallest girl wears a lunula. Photography by R. Rumora (2012) © R. Rumora

The dangers of cooking in Rome
Uncertain dating. Types of Roman cauldrons, found in the Boscoreale Museum, near Pompeii. Source: Wikipedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Maleficent ointments
Roman Early Imperial. Glass perfume bottle cristal © ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’, NY

A formula for cursing
Circa 2 ACE. Roman curse tablet in 2.7 cm lead discovered in 1985 in Cologne, Germany (ID: Thesaurus Defixionum 285). Author unknown

The curse tablet from Pela, Macedonia, 4th century BCE
Date unknown. Image of the unrolled lead sheet (20 x 5cm) discovered in 1986 by archaeologist Maria Akamati in the agora of the city of Pela. In addition to the interest of its contents, it is one of the few texts written in Macedonian Greek. It is currently housed in the archaeological museum of Pela © Creative Commons

Erotic magic and judicial accusations
2nd century BCE. Papyrus with a marriage contract from Oxyrhynchus (PSI I 64). Among the clauses of the agreement the wife agrees not to administer magic drinks to her husband. Image PSIonline (2024) © ‘Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana’, Florence

Erotic magic and prostitution
Circa 490 BCE. Hetera at the symposium, Attic cup with red figures attributed to the painter Makron. Phtography by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Erotic magic and tragic heroines
150-125 BCE. «The council of the witches», mosaic from Pompeii, Villa of Cicero, signed by Dioscorides of Samos. Photography by Raquel Martín Hernández (2023) © Raquel Martín Hernández

Dido and Anna
1st century CE. Wall painting from Pompei, house of Meleager. Photography by Marie Lan Nguyen) © ‘Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli’ (inv. 8898)

Anna Perenna: White magic in Rome
1st to 4th century CE. Findings from the Anna Perenna fountain (Piazza Euclide, Roma). ‘Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme di Diocleziano’. Foto de Di Flazaza © Di Flazaza

Helena and magic
450-440 BCE. Attic crater with red figures by the Painter of Menelaus, found in Egnatia (Apulia, Italy) and preserved in the ‘Musée du Louvre’ (Paris). In the detail, Menelaus tries to strike Helen, but mesmerized by her beauty, he drops his sword. Aphrodite and Eros watch the scene. Photography by Stéphane Maréchalle (2017) © ‘RMN-Grand Palais’ (‘Musée du Louvre’)

Medea, sorceress scorned
Circa 630 BCE. Medea the sorceress and her magic cauldron, Etruscan olpe in black pottery. Photography by Laura D’Erme (2021), Museum of Etruscan Art © Laura D’Erme

Circe and the ‘femme fatale’
1891. «Circe offering the cup to Ulysses», John William Waterhouse © Oldham Art Gallery, Manchester

Circe, sorceress in love
Circa 440 BCE. Odysseus pursuing Circe, chalice krater attributed to the painter of Persephone, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photografyby Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Marie-Lan Nguyen

Diana and the night flight of the witches
Circa 1451. First known representation of a witch riding a broom; she is accompanied by another woman flying on a white stick. These are marginal drawings from Martin Le Franc's poem 'Le champion des dames' © 'Bibliothèque Nationale de France', Paris, MS. Fr. 12476, fol. 105v.

Proserpina/Persephone: Goddess of the Dead
Roman imperial period, relief of Proserpina and Pluto. ‘Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia’, Calabria (BY-SA 2.0 FR - NC). Photography by Fabien Bièvre-Perrin © Fabien Bièvre-Perrin

Hecate and modern esotericism
2021. Devotional print of Hecate. Illustration by Sara Quintero © Sara Quintero

Hecate, the great goddess of darkness
1st-2nd Century ACE. Marble relief of Hecate in a temple from the time of Hadrian © Kinský Palace, Prague (NM-H10 4742).

On the origin: Female ritual practitioners
20th century BCE. Diorite statuette of a seated woman from Gipar-ku (Irak). Sumerian inscriptions on the seat indicate that it depicts a priestess dedicating the offering to the goddess Ningal. Largely reconstructed. Inv. B16229 © Penn Museum 2022, British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1926

Epilogue: witches in Brazil
1978. «Las Ayabas de Xangô», Carybé, Hector Bernabó, Bahía (Brasil). Xilografía en color, 68cm x 48cm © Museo de Arte de Bahía (IPAC)

The power of rats and rodents in popular beliefs
First century CE. Tomb of a girl named Junia Procula, who died before her ninth birthday. Euphrosyne, her father, erected the monument and used the back of the piece to tell the story of the girl’s mother, Acte, whose name was erased in the inscription © Uffizi Galleries

The animals of Hecate
13th century. Weasel in a medieval edition of On the Nature of Animals. Some beliefs from Rome about this animal passed into later tradition. It was believed that these animals were impure and that they conceived through the ear © ‘Bibliotheque Municipal de Douai’ (manuscript 711) © Creative Commons BY‐NC‐SA 4.0

The power of snakes
Circa 530 BCE. Medea between two serpents. Athenian black-figured lecithus © ‘British Museum’, London

Amulets in Rome: a common protection against the evil eye
First century CE. Younger members of the imperial family on the Ara Pacis Augustae. On the left, the youngest boy, holding a woman’s hand, wears a bulla. On the right, the tallest girl wears a lunula. Photography by R. Rumora (2012) © R. Rumora

The dangers of cooking in Rome
Uncertain dating. Types of Roman cauldrons, found in the Boscoreale Museum, near Pompeii. Source: Wikipedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Maleficent ointments
Roman Early Imperial. Glass perfume bottle cristal © ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’, NY

A formula for cursing
Circa 2 ACE. Roman curse tablet in 2.7 cm lead discovered in 1985 in Cologne, Germany (ID: Thesaurus Defixionum 285). Author unknown

The curse tablet from Pela, Macedonia, 4th century BCE
Date unknown. Image of the unrolled lead sheet (20 x 5cm) discovered in 1986 by archaeologist Maria Akamati in the agora of the city of Pela. In addition to the interest of its contents, it is one of the few texts written in Macedonian Greek. It is currently housed in the archaeological museum of Pela © Creative Commons

Erotic magic and judicial accusations
2nd century BCE. Papyrus with a marriage contract from Oxyrhynchus (PSI I 64). Among the clauses of the agreement the wife agrees not to administer magic drinks to her husband. Image PSIonline (2024) © ‘Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana’, Florence

Erotic magic and prostitution
Circa 490 BCE. Hetera at the symposium, Attic cup with red figures attributed to the painter Makron. Phtography by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Erotic magic and tragic heroines
150-125 BCE. «The council of the witches», mosaic from Pompeii, Villa of Cicero, signed by Dioscorides of Samos. Photography by Raquel Martín Hernández (2023) © Raquel Martín Hernández

Dido and Anna
1st century CE. Wall painting from Pompei, house of Meleager. Photography by Marie Lan Nguyen) © ‘Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli’ (inv. 8898)

Anna Perenna: White magic in Rome
1st to 4th century CE. Findings from the Anna Perenna fountain (Piazza Euclide, Roma). ‘Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme di Diocleziano’. Foto de Di Flazaza © Di Flazaza

Helena and magic
450-440 BCE. Attic crater with red figures by the Painter of Menelaus, found in Egnatia (Apulia, Italy) and preserved in the ‘Musée du Louvre’ (Paris). In the detail, Menelaus tries to strike Helen, but mesmerized by her beauty, he drops his sword. Aphrodite and Eros watch the scene. Photography by Stéphane Maréchalle (2017) © ‘RMN-Grand Palais’ (‘Musée du Louvre’)

Medea, sorceress scorned
Circa 630 BCE. Medea the sorceress and her magic cauldron, Etruscan olpe in black pottery. Photography by Laura D’Erme (2021), Museum of Etruscan Art © Laura D’Erme

Circe and the ‘femme fatale’
1891. «Circe offering the cup to Ulysses», John William Waterhouse © Oldham Art Gallery, Manchester

Circe, sorceress in love
Circa 440 BCE. Odysseus pursuing Circe, chalice krater attributed to the painter of Persephone, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photografyby Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Marie-Lan Nguyen

Diana and the night flight of the witches
Circa 1451. First known representation of a witch riding a broom; she is accompanied by another woman flying on a white stick. These are marginal drawings from Martin Le Franc's poem 'Le champion des dames' © 'Bibliothèque Nationale de France', Paris, MS. Fr. 12476, fol. 105v.

Proserpina/Persephone: Goddess of the Dead
Roman imperial period, relief of Proserpina and Pluto. ‘Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia’, Calabria (BY-SA 2.0 FR - NC). Photography by Fabien Bièvre-Perrin © Fabien Bièvre-Perrin

Hecate and modern esotericism
2021. Devotional print of Hecate. Illustration by Sara Quintero © Sara Quintero

Hecate, the great goddess of darkness
1st-2nd Century ACE. Marble relief of Hecate in a temple from the time of Hadrian © Kinský Palace, Prague (NM-H10 4742).

On the origin: Female ritual practitioners
20th century BCE. Diorite statuette of a seated woman from Gipar-ku (Irak). Sumerian inscriptions on the seat indicate that it depicts a priestess dedicating the offering to the goddess Ningal. Largely reconstructed. Inv. B16229 © Penn Museum 2022, British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1926

Epilogue: witches in Brazil
1978. «Las Ayabas de Xangô», Carybé, Hector Bernabó, Bahía (Brasil). Xilografía en color, 68cm x 48cm © Museo de Arte de Bahía (IPAC)

The power of rats and rodents in popular beliefs
First century CE. Tomb of a girl named Junia Procula, who died before her ninth birthday. Euphrosyne, her father, erected the monument and used the back of the piece to tell the story of the girl’s mother, Acte, whose name was erased in the inscription © Uffizi Galleries

The animals of Hecate
13th century. Weasel in a medieval edition of On the Nature of Animals. Some beliefs from Rome about this animal passed into later tradition. It was believed that these animals were impure and that they conceived through the ear © ‘Bibliotheque Municipal de Douai’ (manuscript 711) © Creative Commons BY‐NC‐SA 4.0

The power of snakes
Circa 530 BCE. Medea between two serpents. Athenian black-figured lecithus © ‘British Museum’, London

Amulets in Rome: a common protection against the evil eye
First century CE. Younger members of the imperial family on the Ara Pacis Augustae. On the left, the youngest boy, holding a woman’s hand, wears a bulla. On the right, the tallest girl wears a lunula. Photography by R. Rumora (2012) © R. Rumora

The dangers of cooking in Rome
Uncertain dating. Types of Roman cauldrons, found in the Boscoreale Museum, near Pompeii. Source: Wikipedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Maleficent ointments
Roman Early Imperial. Glass perfume bottle cristal © ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’, NY

A formula for cursing
Circa 2 ACE. Roman curse tablet in 2.7 cm lead discovered in 1985 in Cologne, Germany (ID: Thesaurus Defixionum 285). Author unknown

The curse tablet from Pela, Macedonia, 4th century BCE
Date unknown. Image of the unrolled lead sheet (20 x 5cm) discovered in 1986 by archaeologist Maria Akamati in the agora of the city of Pela. In addition to the interest of its contents, it is one of the few texts written in Macedonian Greek. It is currently housed in the archaeological museum of Pela © Creative Commons

Erotic magic and judicial accusations
2nd century BCE. Papyrus with a marriage contract from Oxyrhynchus (PSI I 64). Among the clauses of the agreement the wife agrees not to administer magic drinks to her husband. Image PSIonline (2024) © ‘Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana’, Florence

Erotic magic and prostitution
Circa 490 BCE. Hetera at the symposium, Attic cup with red figures attributed to the painter Makron. Phtography by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Erotic magic and tragic heroines
150-125 BCE. «The council of the witches», mosaic from Pompeii, Villa of Cicero, signed by Dioscorides of Samos. Photography by Raquel Martín Hernández (2023) © Raquel Martín Hernández

Dido and Anna
1st century CE. Wall painting from Pompei, house of Meleager. Photography by Marie Lan Nguyen) © ‘Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli’ (inv. 8898)

Anna Perenna: White magic in Rome
1st to 4th century CE. Findings from the Anna Perenna fountain (Piazza Euclide, Roma). ‘Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme di Diocleziano’. Foto de Di Flazaza © Di Flazaza

Helena and magic
450-440 BCE. Attic crater with red figures by the Painter of Menelaus, found in Egnatia (Apulia, Italy) and preserved in the ‘Musée du Louvre’ (Paris). In the detail, Menelaus tries to strike Helen, but mesmerized by her beauty, he drops his sword. Aphrodite and Eros watch the scene. Photography by Stéphane Maréchalle (2017) © ‘RMN-Grand Palais’ (‘Musée du Louvre’)

Medea, sorceress scorned
Circa 630 BCE. Medea the sorceress and her magic cauldron, Etruscan olpe in black pottery. Photography by Laura D’Erme (2021), Museum of Etruscan Art © Laura D’Erme

Circe and the ‘femme fatale’
1891. «Circe offering the cup to Ulysses», John William Waterhouse © Oldham Art Gallery, Manchester

Circe, sorceress in love
Circa 440 BCE. Odysseus pursuing Circe, chalice krater attributed to the painter of Persephone, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photografyby Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Marie-Lan Nguyen

Diana and the night flight of the witches
Circa 1451. First known representation of a witch riding a broom; she is accompanied by another woman flying on a white stick. These are marginal drawings from Martin Le Franc's poem 'Le champion des dames' © 'Bibliothèque Nationale de France', Paris, MS. Fr. 12476, fol. 105v.

Proserpina/Persephone: Goddess of the Dead
Roman imperial period, relief of Proserpina and Pluto. ‘Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia’, Calabria (BY-SA 2.0 FR - NC). Photography by Fabien Bièvre-Perrin © Fabien Bièvre-Perrin

Hecate and modern esotericism
2021. Devotional print of Hecate. Illustration by Sara Quintero © Sara Quintero

Hecate, the great goddess of darkness
1st-2nd Century ACE. Marble relief of Hecate in a temple from the time of Hadrian © Kinský Palace, Prague (NM-H10 4742).

On the origin: Female ritual practitioners
20th century BCE. Diorite statuette of a seated woman from Gipar-ku (Irak). Sumerian inscriptions on the seat indicate that it depicts a priestess dedicating the offering to the goddess Ningal. Largely reconstructed. Inv. B16229 © Penn Museum 2022, British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1926

Epilogue: witches in Brazil
1978. «Las Ayabas de Xangô», Carybé, Hector Bernabó, Bahía (Brasil). Xilografía en color, 68cm x 48cm © Museo de Arte de Bahía (IPAC)

The power of rats and rodents in popular beliefs
First century CE. Tomb of a girl named Junia Procula, who died before her ninth birthday. Euphrosyne, her father, erected the monument and used the back of the piece to tell the story of the girl’s mother, Acte, whose name was erased in the inscription © Uffizi Galleries

The animals of Hecate
13th century. Weasel in a medieval edition of On the Nature of Animals. Some beliefs from Rome about this animal passed into later tradition. It was believed that these animals were impure and that they conceived through the ear © ‘Bibliotheque Municipal de Douai’ (manuscript 711) © Creative Commons BY‐NC‐SA 4.0

The power of snakes
Circa 530 BCE. Medea between two serpents. Athenian black-figured lecithus © ‘British Museum’, London

Amulets in Rome: a common protection against the evil eye
First century CE. Younger members of the imperial family on the Ara Pacis Augustae. On the left, the youngest boy, holding a woman’s hand, wears a bulla. On the right, the tallest girl wears a lunula. Photography by R. Rumora (2012) © R. Rumora

The dangers of cooking in Rome
Uncertain dating. Types of Roman cauldrons, found in the Boscoreale Museum, near Pompeii. Source: Wikipedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0

Maleficent ointments
Roman Early Imperial. Glass perfume bottle cristal © ‘The Metropolitan Museum of Art’, NY

A formula for cursing
Circa 2 ACE. Roman curse tablet in 2.7 cm lead discovered in 1985 in Cologne, Germany (ID: Thesaurus Defixionum 285). Author unknown

The curse tablet from Pela, Macedonia, 4th century BCE
Date unknown. Image of the unrolled lead sheet (20 x 5cm) discovered in 1986 by archaeologist Maria Akamati in the agora of the city of Pela. In addition to the interest of its contents, it is one of the few texts written in Macedonian Greek. It is currently housed in the archaeological museum of Pela © Creative Commons

Erotic magic and judicial accusations
2nd century BCE. Papyrus with a marriage contract from Oxyrhynchus (PSI I 64). Among the clauses of the agreement the wife agrees not to administer magic drinks to her husband. Image PSIonline (2024) © ‘Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana’, Florence

Erotic magic and prostitution
Circa 490 BCE. Hetera at the symposium, Attic cup with red figures attributed to the painter Makron. Phtography by Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Metropolitan Museum of Art

Erotic magic and tragic heroines
150-125 BCE. «The council of the witches», mosaic from Pompeii, Villa of Cicero, signed by Dioscorides of Samos. Photography by Raquel Martín Hernández (2023) © Raquel Martín Hernández

Dido and Anna
1st century CE. Wall painting from Pompei, house of Meleager. Photography by Marie Lan Nguyen) © ‘Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli’ (inv. 8898)

Anna Perenna: White magic in Rome
1st to 4th century CE. Findings from the Anna Perenna fountain (Piazza Euclide, Roma). ‘Museo Nazionale Romano delle Terme di Diocleziano’. Foto de Di Flazaza © Di Flazaza

Helena and magic
450-440 BCE. Attic crater with red figures by the Painter of Menelaus, found in Egnatia (Apulia, Italy) and preserved in the ‘Musée du Louvre’ (Paris). In the detail, Menelaus tries to strike Helen, but mesmerized by her beauty, he drops his sword. Aphrodite and Eros watch the scene. Photography by Stéphane Maréchalle (2017) © ‘RMN-Grand Palais’ (‘Musée du Louvre’)

Medea, sorceress scorned
Circa 630 BCE. Medea the sorceress and her magic cauldron, Etruscan olpe in black pottery. Photography by Laura D’Erme (2021), Museum of Etruscan Art © Laura D’Erme

Circe and the ‘femme fatale’
1891. «Circe offering the cup to Ulysses», John William Waterhouse © Oldham Art Gallery, Manchester

Circe, sorceress in love
Circa 440 BCE. Odysseus pursuing Circe, chalice krater attributed to the painter of Persephone, preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photografyby Marie-Lan Nguyen (2011) © Marie-Lan Nguyen

Diana and the night flight of the witches
Circa 1451. First known representation of a witch riding a broom; she is accompanied by another woman flying on a white stick. These are marginal drawings from Martin Le Franc's poem 'Le champion des dames' © 'Bibliothèque Nationale de France', Paris, MS. Fr. 12476, fol. 105v.

Proserpina/Persephone: Goddess of the Dead
Roman imperial period, relief of Proserpina and Pluto. ‘Museo Nazionale della Magna Grecia’, Calabria (BY-SA 2.0 FR - NC). Photography by Fabien Bièvre-Perrin © Fabien Bièvre-Perrin

Hecate and modern esotericism
2021. Devotional print of Hecate. Illustration by Sara Quintero © Sara Quintero

Hecate, the great goddess of darkness
1st-2nd Century ACE. Marble relief of Hecate in a temple from the time of Hadrian © Kinský Palace, Prague (NM-H10 4742).

On the origin: Female ritual practitioners
20th century BCE. Diorite statuette of a seated woman from Gipar-ku (Irak). Sumerian inscriptions on the seat indicate that it depicts a priestess dedicating the offering to the goddess Ningal. Largely reconstructed. Inv. B16229 © Penn Museum 2022, British Museum/University Museum Expedition to Ur, Iraq, 1926